7/2/10 to 7/18/10

DIAMONDS, 7/18/10

She keeps a diamond in her heart
It belongs there, she says
Because it’s hard and cold
It fills the empty space
That no man can touch
She keeps a diamond in her heart
It belongs there, I say
Because it’s a precious thing
A tear shed by Venus
In memory of a kiss
She keeps a diamond in her heart
It belongs there, I guess
Because it’s bright and it shines
And fills the empty space
That I could never touch

CANYON ROAD, DAWN, 7/17/10

In the cool of the morning
Just before first light
Walking down a canyon road
and thinking about a girl
lost to the world
It seems like I’ve spent half my life
walking down canyon roads
in the cool of the morning
Just before first light
Thinking about a girl
lost to the world

7/16/10

Age and time
have taken away my high notes
I reach for them
but no sound comes
leaving only
an earthy growl
just right
for honky-tonk blues

7/15/10

Devil on my shoulder
shrugs and shakes his head
while the angel is busy
trying to hail a cab

HOPE, 7/14/10

Hope,
like the condom in an awkward teenage boy’s wallet
is something I carry with me
in case, someday
I need it

7/13/10

Hate is a curse
Love is a promise
And between them
is the whole of the world

SHE IS A DANGER, 7/12/10

She is a danger
To herself and others
but most of all
to my heart

7/11/10

Are you there
or am I just tossing these words out
to an indifferent wind
to be blown apart
scattered like the thoughts
as they echo through my fevered brain
Do you hear me
a voice in the wilderness
calling out to the paradise denied
not now, maybe next year
Is it you I dream about
when sleep comes at last
you, filling the empty place beside me
Only to be gone again
as consciousness returns
Are you there
Do you hear
Is it you

GRACE, 7/10/10

Stumble and fall
for all my life
I have lacked grace

7/9/10

She was the saddest song I never played
A melancholy melody that is my existence
and I, but a footnote in hers
and yet the song plays on
in my head
a waltz in 3/4 time
as she slowly dances away

7/8/10

The song of my life
minor chord to major seventh
A string of notes
a sad melody
but sometimes
the most beautiful notes
are the ones not played

FORGETTING, 7/7/10

Forgetting
I wish I could
but the curse of my memory
is to remember every second
fully situated in time and space
and though sometimes I long to forget
I know I never will
and so with the memories
I will build a wall
behind which I might find shelter
from the onslaught
of everything
but the things I wish I could
…forget

LOVE, 7/6/10

Love, or something like it
in your lips and tongue
the warmth of your body
the feel of your heartbeat
against my own
Here, tonight, now
and the morning,
which might never come
If not love, still something like it
Still to be cherished
when the morning comes

7/6/10

Where do we go from here
Do we struggle and fight
or just walk away
What does it matter
you say
when everything falls away?
And I can’t give you any answers
Still, I want to believe
despite myself.
I just want to hold you
feel your warmth against mine
one last time
that old comfortable thing
and then we go on from here
though neither of us know where
apart

THE BOUNCER’S LAMENT, 7/4/10

I can laugh
It comes easy to me
And I smile readily enough
They say I have a nice smile
the barflies and regulars
the drunk girls and the lonelyhearts
And if I look down
or glance off to the horrizon
to some far off place
As they talk their drunken talk
Don’t think that I can’t smile
It’s just that I feel the longing
as we all do
that whiskey doesn’t kill
I feel it in the cold night air
Yet still I can laugh
You know,
It comes easily to me

LAST CALL, 7/3/10

Is this love
the heat and the rush
or is it just the moment
the kiss and the touch
When I look in your eyes
what is it that I see
And what do you look for
in mine
Is this all a lie
or something else
Not love, but still real
As real as anything can be
in the heat and the rush
and the drunken fondling
of the last call

DENIAL, 7/2/10

I don’t want you any more
No, not very much
No more than I want breath in my lungs
I don’t think of you any more
No, not very often
Except when I do
which is all the time
I don’t care about you any more
No, not with all my heart
Not through my sleepless nights
Not through my pointless days
No, I don’t want you any more
Not all that
until the end of the world
Whatever everyone says