A Solemn Sort of Heaven

The stars are afraid of the dark
so they shiver and shake.
Through the vacuum, they embark.
All their wanderers, they take.
They do not want to be alone
or lost in the expanse.
Emptiness is all they've known;
they're longing for romance.
They waltz among the nebulae
to find their brethren.
Light years it is from sky to sky:
a solemn sort of heaven.

The stars would revel in delight
if only they could know
that tiny beings see their light
and bathe within their glow.

************************************************

I feel a great need to make some minor comments on this one, though I've been trying not to comment if at all possible.

First, stars don't actually twinkle (or "shiver and shake"). Our perceived twinkle is a result of the light passing through / being bent by the Earth's atmosphere.

Second, "wanderers" refers to planets. Our word for "planet" comes from the Greek word for "wandering star."

Last, the stars aren't moving closer to each other in the cosmos. The universe is expanding, so the stars and everything else are moving farther away from each other.

The wanna-be science nerd in me just needed it known that I know these things. If none of this matters to you, I hope you can just enjoy a little ditty about the stars for what it is...never-minding that is in no way even remotely scientifically accurate!

"When the sun fell down and fell asleep, drunk from drinking all the heat, it made a splash onto the sky. The stars stayed up 'til morning." Great Lake Swimmers Imaginary Bars

"You're everybody's satellite; I wish that you were mine." Counting Crows Recovering the Satellites

The Bird's Song

I walked through my days

as if the hours were liars
and I stuck to my path

without a purpose.

I thought I knew your name,

Love.

I thought I knew your face.

I thought I knew the bird's song.

With rough hands

and soft eyes,

I was pulled from behind

the shadows.

Darkness is light

and time is poetry
and I didn't know I was lost at all
until you came and found me.

*******************************





"Throw it all away, in the course of one day. Why can't you just go outside?" Hot Rod Circuit Irish Car Bomb

"In the shadows, the name is unknown to me." Sunny Day Real Estate Shadows

"Sew it on. Face the fool. December's tragic drive when time is poetry and, stolen, the world outside, the waiting could crush my heart." Sunny Day Real Estate Seven

Heart's Enough

Your kiss, I couldn't feel it

'cause my flesh is rough.

Your voice, I couldn't find it,

but your heart's enough.

Leave a trail of crumbs
and I'll follow

to see what comes,

to wallow.

My north star
calls
from afar,
falls,

but I'll find him here
tomorrow.

************************************






"Late at night, sync your heartbeat to mine. I will never try to forget your northern lights." The Rural Alberta Advantage Edmonton

Spectrum

We all travel on a spectrum

from dark to light to dark.

We're all searching for affection.

We're all looking for our mark.

But there is dusk and there is dawn

and there are rainy days and dew

and, in my head, there is a song

implanted there by you.

The sun can see us too

even when we're in our caverns:

a love, anew,

our phases and our patterns.

When the warm rays brush my cheek

like the fingers on your hand,

I can't find the words to speak;

yet I know you understand.

************************************************

"Then there was music and wonderful roses, they tell me, in sweet fragrant meadows of dawn and dew." The Beatles Till There was You

"So will you come back to my corner? Spent too long alone tonight. Would you come brighten my corner? A lit torch to the woodpile - aye. Come find me now where I hide and we'll speak in our secret tongues." Frightened Rabbit Woodpile

"And when you realize it's a pattern and not a phase, it's what you've become and it's what you will stay, that's ballgame." Kevin Devine Ballgame

"So what if it's freezing, I'm awake and I'm happy. The sun's steepling its shards on my floor." Kevin Devine Splitting Up Christmas

Clean Escape

I can't hear a thing,
through this fuzzy sound.
My ears, they still ring
and I can't find the ground.
Swirling and shaking
with my head in my hands,
the mess that I'm making,
no one else understands.
High above the cityscape
and miles from my pen,
"Perhaps I've made a clean escape,"
I wonder now and then.
But strangled is my honesty
and staggered are my thoughts.
Nothing makes much sense to me
and now I know I'm caught.
I'm trapped between your letters
and I'm lost within your lines,
but I think I think much better
when I have you on my mind.

*************************************








"You point to wisdom in a snow storm and all the drawbacks of the reborn, but then you talk of new experience and all the benefits of staying warm. You say there's poems on the front line. I guess I lost you on the back nine. I'm mixing metaphors with overtures and drowning out your memory in moonshine. But I'll decide when it's on my mind, when it's on my mind. I'll decide when it's on my mind, when it's on my mind." The Miracle of '86 When it's on My Mind


"From time to time, you cross my mind. Good company Is hard to find. From time to time, you cross my mind. So stay with me just for a night." Twin Forks Cross My Mind

Couplets and Limericks

She's scared for you to know

and scared for you to see

who she was long ago,

from whom she tried to flee.

Please do not lift the veil

or make a move too fast.

She'll shake from head to tail.

She'll never let it last.

Couplets and limericks,

she hides behind so well.

Unhinging rhetoric,

a story she could sell.

Her scars still sing her song

more than you'll ever hear

and though she knows it's wrong,

they'll never disappear.

Keep holding to her hand.

Don't let her run away.

You're more than she had planned;

she's better off this way.

**********************************************

"I tried to catch you in a couplet on my 4-track today, but my tongue tied, my tongue tied. I couldn't figure how to fit you on the spin and the tape. See, my tongue tied, my tongue tied." Kevin Devine Like Cursing Kids

"It's not even love any more. It's just a claim upon my soul." - Frank Turner Tell Tale Signs

Most Notably

I once saw you

in the dim dawn.

Our minutes were few

and then you were gone

to the wrong coast,

you feckless ghost.

And I

in my shell

believed the lie,

believed it well.

The hours passed,

but I never asked.

You held my strings.

You've seen my hand.

You know everything

I don't understand.

But you're a memory,

a suicidal accessory.

And so I sing

and so I walk

and so I cling

and wring and balk.

And so I write verses

that turn into curses.

Because you are such

bad poetry

Yet, I still clutch,

most notably,

to your sleeve

as you leave.

 

**********************************************

I'm sorry that I rhyme "versus" with "curses" in two of my last three poems, but I really like that pairing. 

"You look at me like I'm some kind of carnival attraction. You say love's this abstraction, just some ghost that you chase." Counting Crows Earthquake Driver

"There's a hole in the ceiling down through which I fell. There's a girl in the basement coming out of her shell. And there are people who will say they knew me so well - I may not go to heaven, but I hope that you go to hell!" Counting Crows St. Robinson and his Cadillac Dream

"And all my friends told me, 'You don’t need laws to tell that if it feels like fallin’, boy, you probably already fell. The whole table saw your hand. So, you might as well just play it - and you ain’t fooling anyone - so you might as well just say it...'  So, I guess I’m in love. I guess I’m in love." - Counting Crows (but really Kasey Anderson and the Honkies) Like Teenage Gravity

"She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far...a slipped disc in the spine of community, a bloody curse word made pedestrian verse." Frightened Rabbit State Hospital

"I spoke bad poetry." Sunny Day Real Estate 5/4

Mind the Mud

I can still see you in the glow. 

Sometimes. 

You know that I know

all of your crimes.

You hide behind shadows, 

but your corona exudes,

peering through windows, 

trying not to be rude.

But I feel your darkness

in my blood.

Reassess.

Mind the mud.

I'd pull you out

if given the chance.

I have no doubt.

Love at first glance.

You take the blame,

but I know your line.

Your heart's the same,

the same as mine.

*************************************************

"When I say, 'No one talks to me like you.' She says, 'They don't know you like I do.'" - Kevin Devine She Can See Me

"I've crippled your heart a hundred times and still can't work out why. See, I've got this disease, I can't shake and I'm just rattling through life." - Frightened Rabbit The Modern Leper

Verses

Young and clever
with ties to sever,
memories to relinquish,
and ghosts to vanquish,

you dive into a notebook,
with a pencil, in a quiet nook.
You hop a train,
find the refrain.

It climbs out your lung
and off your tongue.
It pricks your finger tips.
It reddens your lips.

It wakes you from sleep
and makes you weep.
It wraps you up warm
and saves you from all harm.

That song in your head
so you know you're not dead
keeps your blood pumping
and your heart thumping.

and those old poems and verses
with no rhymes, only curses
keep your spine strong,
can never steer you wrong.

*****************************************************



I'm done playin' stone-paper-scissors. Gonna grab that stone and bring 'em all down with it, steal those scissors and cut some throats, put pen to the paper and I'll write you a note." Frightened Rabbit Candlelit

That sucker punch, that brittle touch - and the cut keeps dripping, but the blood won't thicken. There's poison in the tap water. There's poison in the tap water." - Owl John Don't Take Off the Gloves

"You've got no backbone, so you're breaking mine." - The Miracle of '86 Sleep All Damn Day

Growing Old

Your songs
still sing
in my ear.
They sting
like alcohol
on a burn.
You left,
without a turn,
but I was right
as soon you'll learn.

Take another shot,
but the taste will stay.
Pretend it had to be
this way.
Nights get cold
under lonely sheets
and the air grows thick
over darkened streets.
Let your heart be fooled,
let it skip those beats.

Close your eyes
to sleep.
Hold your secrets
to keep:
truths never
to unfold,
trapped behind teeth,
growing old,
all those loves
you never told.

**************************

Seven for a secret, never to be told.








"Fooled by the night and drinking the poison, enough to get right. Then to freeze frame vision." - Minus the Bear Fooled by the Night

"I see the housing glow, the skyline of cheap gold and crooked teeth I will call home for the day or so." - Frightened Rabbit Housing (In)

Gallop On

Hollow and cold
when once I was bold,
I live to forget;
every memory's a threat.
All the words written,
how once I was so smitten,
but I hear the soothing lie.
Now just try to deny.
Hum that tune.
I'm the loon,
but you've got it all wrong
and I will not sing along.
It isn't in my voice -
no rejoice, rejoice, rejoice -
for the game I let transpire.
No, I'll set the earth on fire.
Feel the ground as it shakes
and your flesh as it bakes
and let the horses gallop on.
Let the horses gallop on.

**************************************

18-Aug-2014.





"Wouldn't it be so wonderful if everything were meaningless, but everything is so meaningful and most everything turns to shit. Rejoice." - Pedro the Lion Rejoice

Routine Departure

I heard your voice,
but it was in my head.
It wasn't my choice;
it was, instead,
an involuntary spasm
or temporary lapse.
Longing's in fashion,
so I'm hiding all the maps.

Nestled in the crook
of your neck,
I take a look
and check
that your heart still beats
with mine.
Warm sheets.
Entwine.

A routine departure,
an "adieu" for now,
a small dose of torture:
I'm just not sure how
you always return
or why you don't run
despite what you learn.
What 's this we've begun?

I'll let the senses blend
if you don't let go.
My reality, you bend.
You'll never even know.




*********************************************

"Why does my heart always beat before yours does?" Saves the Day Three Miles Down

"I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass." Counting Crows A Long December

"'Cause every star that I see is brighter than the last so stay with me." Finch Stay With Me

"You are the myth made real this evening." Kevin Devine Matter of Time