Lionkiller

I was born in a hospital that was very big and white
The hands of a male doctor pulled me into the light
My grandmother cut the umbilical cord
And I took my first breath in a maternity ward

They gave me food and shelter, they gave me clothes and things
I was allowed to go to school and I was encouraged to sing
I was healthy, I was a privileged soul
And I am lucky today, and thankful on the whole

I am called Scorpio, if they got the date right
I cannot transcend this caste even if I tried
I hope to kill a great lion someday
And I will because with work ethic I was raised

Fire, water, earth, and wind have gone
To Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John

Elements are assigned and stars given names
Baseball on T.V, pictures in frames
I am still hunting for the hide of such sheen
My hair’s still curly and my eyes are still green

Stick a needle in my eye
I’m middle class ’til the day I die

Pregnant Pause

I offer you some wine
You say it’s not a mood
The cars on Shattuck Ave.
are quiet this afternoon
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

It’s days like these that pass
The Sun isn’t forgotten
Pleasures of tilt and glass
Ex-lovers ganggreen and rotten
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

And the hope that lives within you
will cause the rain to bend
and we will walk between them
and all of this will come to an end

Look at this dirty pipe
Your mother will surely know
Your father too, I guess
My secret love, please go
Waiting out rain with you
A pregnant pause that I do

That’s That

On a whim, we climbed in a car that was headed down south
You were older and I was hard-pressed for action… could you tell?
Do I Do…
You said, “Here, my dear”, at the Vanity Fair
“Let’s make hay while the Sun shines”
…but was it fair?

Old playthings are all laid to waste
Thrown out to make better space

So I got a job cleaning toilets at a nightclub in Baltimore
And I guess that’s that, almost shorter than a dream
And definitely of less note

Old playthings are all laid to waste
Thrown out to make better space
Do I Do…

Petrified Forest

Our lives weave a pattern
A staff twined by adders
Our mouths, sore to chew
Now you’re eating for two
Yesterdays, wine and song
Are you very far along?
What’s the dream to the bed?
What’s the wreath to the Glorious Dead?
Look at what I found in the dresser

No means yes
Petrified forest

Dad gummit, gall dangit, dag nabbit
You’re darn tootin’ tipping is Un-American
Do you ever get the feeling
that you’re being followed by a van?
Yesterdays yet to come
Win some, lose some

No means yes
Petrified forest

Morning Shadows

Plodding, morning shadows
blanket the cracks along the patio
Droplets fall into tiny pools
that brighten with the white light of renewal
As one memory eludes me
another consumes me
A pane of glass fogged by breath from nostrils
keeping me at bay from a world less hostile
The world is so vain and uncertain!
A death in the family and I’m in love again
New day
New day
New day
New day
Melting frost on the juniper
Greyness evolves into a spectrum of color

Deseret

Acorn shells scattered
on yellow grass
beneath the shade of an old tree
Lay down your mystic basket
It is time to rest
The fourth day is not until tomorrow

Regenerate, Nous Dios
Observe the flower before you pick it

The countryside is quieter
Make your backpack lighter
Onward Christian Songwriter…

Rising from the East
Slowly fading West
Honey and harmony
Make a seat for our guest
Buzz across the universe
to the Mind’s hive
Beyond a shadow of a doubt
you’re lucky to be alive
Sing about the comfort here
Sing about the gaze
Lying in the yellow grass
Flying through the days

…And your
song will
be called
Deseret

Crick In My Neck

I woke up in a bed
so I rang to be fed
From a dream to Tetley
I woke up in a war
Flynn as John Barrymore
The constant drama of body
You ask me “what the heck?”…
Crick in my neck
Crick in my neck
Um, could you wait a sec?
Crick in my neck
Crick in my neck
A crick in my neck

There, behind my back
What’s that sound behind my back?
Jesus said: “I gotta get outta here…”
But on the other hand
Salvage from the New Land
and floating up into the atmosphere
I heard “what the heck?”
Crick in my neck
Crick in my neck
Brother, could you wait a sec?
Crick in my neck
Crick in my neck
A crick in my neck

O, body, holding me back
O, body, you’re such a drag!
The physical
The tooth and nail
And withal, time is the crime

Full Moon Or Infinity

Winter in Pigtown, buckets of rain
I swept the asbestos into a pile again
In my small room without a window
I was grateful enough just to be alone
I don’t know what’s come over me…
The Full Moon or Infinity?

On my walk I found a watch in the snow
Second hand still ticking, I slid it on my wrist slow
Though time was of the essence, I ignored
Instead to hide my face into the fat I’d stored
I don’t know what’s come over me…
The Full Moon or Infinity?

For Tourist Woman, vacation’s squalor
Is something to gloat about, especially the rent, I’m sure
Come to me, sit with me, chain me down
Hair is growing in so many new places I’ve found!
I don’t know what’s come over me…
The Full Moon or Infinity?

The soft light of candles fill the house
I am compelled to repeat my vows
Infinity whispers in my ear
Will my violence reveal itself away or near?
I don’t know what’s come over me…
The Full Moon or Infinity?

Windfall

Waking up to the breath of the shore
And feeling an aire I had never before
Windfall! Windfall!
Surrounding me!
Windfall! Windfall!
I ride on thee!

Flying through the amber clouds
Blowing words right from my mouth
Windfall! Windfall!
Take me away!
Windfall! Windfall!
To an endless day!

Now I don’t much care for landlubbing
I was so desperate and young
You came beginning in the lobe of my lung
and ended at my heels!

The world is lost
Even the birds are tired
But I can fly with you
As long you can inspire
Heaven’s windfall!
Eyes in the sky
Feel the front come!
We will never die

Wheel Of Fortune

Nothing is impossible
A double-negative is a positive, is it not?
A holy paradox
A natural beauty
I’m open and ready
Word love-magic

The gale before the Gate
Become the Will of Fate
Wheel of Fortune
Don’t say that it’s “uncouth”
There is no “I” in “you”
Wheel of Fortune

A four-day miracle
from Iowa to Minneapolis
began my transformation
of body over mind
Oh yes, nothing is impossible
No door impassable
The Ego debased
now the Wheel is everyday

The gale before the Gate
Become the Will of Fate
Wheel of Fortune
Don’t say that it’s “uncouth”
There is no “I” in “you”
Wheel of Fortune

Healing

Healing
Prayer changes
Empathy beyond ages
Brother
We’ve passed through the sieve
There is nothing to forgive
Healing

Touch me
We must find a resolve
To err is human
Pick we-two up from the fall
To friends and lovers
That I’ve put out:
I love you and I’m sorry
Healing