Afterlife

  1. Living Proof

  2. Nothing Changes

  3. Two Red Chairs

  4. Every Bad Dream

  5. 280sl

  6. Everything Has Happened

  7. Lost on Me

  8. Over

Living Proof 

Let the water run down your neck.

Let yourself get upset.

No witnesses so it’s up to you 

to make it sound something like the truth 

You’ve realized you’ve leant with ease

on fictions not realities.

There’s no response

so it’s up to you to provide

some kind of living proof.

Proof there was something, 

a body or two.

Living proof

Living proof

Nothing Changes

Is it blue enough for you,

as blue as it is green

or is it fog too thick to see through?

pool water at your back

sun burning through your eyes

you look up at  familiar skies saying

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

what held your body down?

what held you in its stare?

as you were writing “death in an Aderondak chair”

saying

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

nothing changes, nothing changes here

nothing changes here

it’s just falling asleep

and a failure to wake 

ignored by the dragonfly 

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

nothing changes here (nothing changes here)

nothing changes, nothing changes here

nothing changes here

Two Red Chairs 

Two red chairs in the front room,

it’s too obvious and it’s too soon.

No one speak of the damage

give me a good mess I can manage .

Get the kitchen clean,

blow the candles out,

leave the music on

and boys don’t be afraid to look around

at the immediate unknowns following this,

Crystals of a life you’re gonna miss 

are forming now.

move the fabric to the annex

drink the water with the Xanax 

no one speak of the absence

find a vessel for the ashes 

give the clothes away

make the circle small

leave the music on and 

girls don’t be afraid to really scream 

at the immediate unknowns following this

crystals of a life that should have been

are forming now

now now now now

NOW NOW NOW NOW

NOW now now now

now now now

Every Bad Dream

You sat there and sighed 

like we’d been over it a million times 

an argument scripted

we’re just reading over the lines

I look at the floor 

when i can’t take it anymore

just as defenseless as I was the night before

Every bad dream tells me the 

same sad thing but i still wonder

don’t you, what the morning will bring?

the water glass, the coffee steam rising fast

what are the odds that you look up at me and laugh

baby be kind don’t ignore the reminders 

that there was a time we could put shit behind us 

it’s just a dream telling you sad, sad things

gotta wonder, don’t you, I still wonder, don’ t you

i still wonder

280 SL

Heel-toe your feet apart 

show your bones like works of art

oh, susie i don’t know where to start

loyal eyes at the foot of the bed

there’s a barrier of language

that leaves this look the only way to say it

to say, i’m not going to stick around

to say i’m not gonna stick around for you 

Bill, keep your mind on the eggs

fry ‘em up and let her rest

I know you’ve done your very best

All of this you made of wood 

will remind you more than memory could

that this was real that this was good

and hey someone’s gonna come around to say

someone’s gonna come around for you 

i wish there was more that i could do, but hey  

baby blue 280SL

wait a year or two to sell

but if you don’t, i’ll never tell

Everything Has Happened

meet me with your camera 

at the mouth of the monster

we’ll watch the rolling insides of the earth

maybe we’ll just stand there 

in reverence toward her power

losing the last notions of our worth

and anything could happen

it could all go black 

if anything should happen

we could always turn back

meet me in the morning

at the base of the mountain

we only go as far as we can

all we see are freeways but

nothing gets us these days

we stomach all the shit that we can

if anything should happen

would I react?

cause everything has happened

and i just want you back 

i just want you back 

i keep waiting for the call

cause i just can’t get my head around

you not showing up  at all

can’t you see the logic 

where i go every time

every breath i’m bargaining away

telling you to climb down

telling you that I’ve found every single reason

you should stay

but everything has happened

yeah it all went black

everything has happened

i just want you back 

i just want you back 

Lost on Me

Last night wasn’t who bad

i tell you softly through the phone

the work here isn’t too hard

maybe the money is worth it alone

last year feels like a waste 

he says it’s an outlook i gotta change 

and her clothes are starting to fade

still gonna wear them everyday 

it’s not lost on me

that this is what I’ve been

that this is what you’ve seen

always half of me drive until i spin

reverse and back again 

friends call, I tell you to go

that i’ve never had trouble being alone

but late night loss of control 

now i resent you for having not known

and it’s not lost on me

that this is what I’ve been

that this is what you’ve seen

always half of me 

drive until i spin 

reverse and back again 

Over

everything’s fine 

and as it should be

so maybe the cut wasn’t 

so clean

whatever this was or wanted to be 

if it’s over for you 

it’s over for me

i know you are 

what i need you to be

so i keep you far

just out of reach

if there is a line

it’s one i can’t see

but it wouldn’t be crossed 

if you drew it for me

won’t you draw in for me 

oooo oooo

ooooo oooo

how strong am i supposed to be?

how wrong am i to believe ?

how long till there is some relief?

cause when it’s over for you 

it’s over for me

Tonight Turns To Nothing

1. Spill

2. Wrong

3. Seen By You

4. Long Con 

5. Ghosts

6. Dream Possession

7. Silver in the Dark

8. Still Strangers

9. Talking to the Dead

10.  Watercolor Lover

11. Temporary Thing

SPILL

Spill me out on the floor

I don’t want to be drunk anymore

Bent over on the side 

Of the 5 cause i can’t afford

the hundred-dollar fine

At least see me to the door

Or don’t you give a shit anymore

Cuz i’m casual it’s cool

And this conversations 

Really just a tool

To get you where you wanna go

To get you where you wanna go

Quote me pages from the book

You say defines you but i can

Tell by the look

On your face you’re still waiting to be saved

I might be good at that 

But i’m really trying to change

Not just get you where you wanna

Not just get you where you wanna

I can’t get you where you wanna…

all of this to say

that all i want to be

is chosen from the room

and shown out to the sea

pointed across the water

to the places i can go

like a mother to her daughter

in case she didn’t know 

that her maritime dreams

aren’t so in her mind

that all of this concrete

is better left behind

WRONG 

She wanna go big

She wanna go long

She wanna go where no one’s gone

Deep into the night

Catch her in the screen light

Wondering if she’s getting it wrong

Wrong 

She wants the real thing

lover that he could be

If loving wasn’t frightening

Maybe she’d stop then

Needing to forgive him

Every time that he goT it wrong

Wrong

oh Put your temple to mine

We’ve got time, don’t we?

If only we knew how

To get it

Any way at all. 

Fear of the between

Fear of grand scheme

Now is that really 

What you mean?

Everyone’s talking

Everyone’s laughing

At everybody getting it 

Wrong, wrong 

Put your body to mine

I’ll be kind to it

fCan’t show you how to do this

Can’t show you how to do

Anything at all

SEEN BY YOU

Think we’re watching a little too closely

And it’s getting in the way

It’s like we do it without knowing

That this is no way to behave 

Oh what’s the problem

Oh what’s keeping you awake

are you searching for his love

Like it’ll save you from the quake

Every time they ask me how i see myself

Every time he ask me how i see myself

I say as seen by you

 

And i swear that i’m done

Tryna get behind those eyes

The incendiary gaze

Burning right though mine 

Every time they ask me how i see myself

Every time they ask me how i see myself

I say as seen by you

LONG CON

oh, what’s behind the door

is there something more

that i can expect?

we were just around the bend

from feeling okay again

but you’re in it for the song

in it for the long con

in it for the bet

but i’m out this round

cause my luck’s already down

ah but the logic’s always been

what’s another hit, what’s another taste

what’s life if it’s not mine

to waste

not once without your charm

even with a band tight around your arm

but i’m out this round

i’ll be gone when you’re coming down.

ah but the logic’s always been 

what am i gonna miss

what’s another day

what’s life if it’s not mine 

to waste 

GHOSTS

Quiet,

ear to your chest

Falling walls and the rest

Of commonly held opinions

Finally disappearing 

Move me onto the floor

Dissolve a little more

I’ll what you dance with your ghosts

If you say you love me the most

I’ll watch you dance with your ghost 

If you say you love me the most

And you might need permission

From me to give any fight

You’re in no position

To love anything, oh but you might. 

Half way you’ll let me know 

How far i’ve still to go 

The joke’s on the hand-drawn map

I’ve crumpled and torn in our laps

The trusted advice in the stars

I read you aloud in the car

And you might need permission

From them to give any fight 

You sit and blame conditions 

When I could have loved you if I tried

DREAM POSSESSION

that face 

that look

textbook description 

of what i’ve been missing

out here, joking

but really hoping 

to get ya, but 

where to find?

My dream possession

something to hold 

and i can see 

we can now

but choose not to

cause our eyes let us down 

every time

A touch that knows 

where to go and where not to 

until instructed

I’ve trusted irresponsibly.

unresponsive, you just laid 

down and let me lose, 

didn’t you?

my dream possession

something to hold 

STILL STRANGERS

Hey, john you move to slow for me

And i’m spending all this money

Wondering where you’re going 

As the night turns to nothing

it’s all i’ve been thinking

You said southern california

Nobody ever warned ya

That she’d wrap you in this sadness

You asked me what are the chances 

Of us leaving Los Angeles tonight

You could grab another drink for me

We’ll make a plan built on fantasy

Of a home in the desert

or  the trees meet the water

But i’m happy in this bar here

Getting drunk and across the table

You ask me if i know what it’s like

To wanna close the door forever

And never go outside

And i said obviously i do

But i think i’d open it up for you 

I think a part of you is listening

To the part of me that whispering

I’m not asking you to love me

I’m just talking about some company

I know i’m not alone in wanting

But you joke that you’re almost 30

And you sleep in a sleeping bag

It’s alright cause i’m still sleeping

In the same room i’ve always had 

You’ve fooled yourself into thinking

that you’re making some kind of strides

by getting yourself to tell me

the things that you normally hide

and i drive you when i shouldn’t

back to your door

we both sat there laughing

with a classic hesitation

as to whats supposed to happen

and I know that you won’t kiss me

and i don’t want to come inside

if in the morning you’d say it was nothing

but something we thought we should try

and we’d still be strangers

TALKING TO THE DEAD

Taken by a sudden light

he never wanted out 

but he is now. 

They wait until his mother lands 

to give her news she won’t understand. 

Everyone on the ground is 

already trying to figure it out. 

She’s alone but she’d never tell

 she feels her lover ought to 

know her well 

enough to call 

enough to ask 

enough to try though

he don’t understand. 

He’s just diving in

to where she’s already been 

talking to the dead

talking to the dead

And it’s the age of forgetting 

but we’re excessively evading 

The facts and the physics 

Of what’s becoming non existent.

and in the interest 

of distraction

I’m just looking for some 

Kind of reaction 

but i’m talking to the dead

Talking to the dead

WATERCOLOR LOVER

Watercolor lover

a portait of you

falling off the page

there's nothing to remember 

but the glass turning blue

like some kind of magic 

if i held you down 

into that river would I

wash this all away 

till there's no trace at all

still life flower

i tried to be for you

but you turned off the light

now wilting at the mention

of me packing up your stuff

asking what would have kept you

what would have been enough

would have been enough

but you held me down inside the dark

till i lost all my shape 

now there's no trace at all 

TEMPORARY THING

Her song’s the only one 

that you wouldn’t dare sing along to

a voice like the sun, a light 

you let wash every part of you  

away

Bodies are warm sand dunes 

she’s sinking into your slope

and every grain of you will 

have her without any hope

of time standing still 

You’ve got no will to say it like it is

but your limited by a temporary thing 

and you take, take her as she comes

Like a wind, like a drug

Like a temporary thing

a temporary thing

just for now

holding on for the sake of 

holding onto the shape

of her movements like whispered rays 

burning through winter

to land soft on your face kissing your cheek.

Whenever she speaks, she tells it like it is

and you’re comforted by a temporary thing

You take, take her as she comes

Like a wind, like a drug

A temporary thing