I am sorry said the butcher to the lamb on the counter while lighting up a cigarrette a mans got to eat so a lambs got to die forgive me if it don’t make sense Ya see, between me or you I am gonna pick the one who can weave a cleaver with his hand I am sorry said the butcher to the lamb on the counter while cleaning off his apron And he might write you another lullaby Something to keep you warm at night Something to turn off the lights He is his own alibi And how he came to you crawling, begging to hold him, drunk as an out of tune violin Saying “why wont you come to me, you’re my mine you’re my everything, I am different I swear I have changed But you know this pattern you’ve seen it all happen somewhere before in a dream And tomorrows forever and you know there’s no never, white knuckled you pick up your pen He’s a snake charming knife sharpen cold hearted motherfucking crabby ass son of a bitch He is your butcher and ya need him ya aint gotta feed him just eat your meat and be quiet His silver tongue is polished he smells of licorice when he leans in to give ya kiss He is your butcher and ya need him ya aint gotta feed him just eat your meat and be quiet And he might write you another lullaby Something to keep you warm at night Something to turn off the lights He is his own alibi

Lost amongst the poet’s choir the conductor must be hung He is high on song and drunk with power I say we string him up It is freezing out lets have a fire the kindling is this town We can laugh and dance and aspire to burn the whole world down Well I got nothing left to lose so I think you should to And if you agree with me you deserve what I will do First I’ll start with your heart then slip into your shoes You’ll think you know who/where you are, but this dog is walking you Lies Lies Lies Pouring from the poets mouth Lies Lies Lies As the words come flowing out Prophet sneezing, asphalt preaching, soap box medicine Fever dreaming, heartbreaking, snake oil in a pen Like autumn leaves the carpet is pulled out from under us Groundless as a coma victim trying to wake up Hopeless as the love affair of god and religion Aimless as the words that are rolling off my tongue And if we find ourselves able to write the right words down Through the hoops and obstacles that comes with music now Riding rhymes like writing rails through the beat of a mainline Dancing through the sweat and mess of the poetically sublime

If you don’t follow the rules They're gonna put you in their cage And if you’re the color of the earth They will teach you how to behave New York City lights are so pretty and bright From this graveyard in Brooklyn And I can't understand why it is I pretend that below isn’t my friend And all I can remember is your red bandana waving like a flag in the middle of nowhere and without a care of where we were going and you said Lay down your compass, your crew guide, your whiskey Dump forty ounces in the ground for me Don’t you know you can sleep when your dead And if you see the others up there Tell them 'fuck you' from me Ya didn’t hear their mothers scream Ya havn't seen what I've seen And in the echoes of my room I hear you call my name And in the subways downtown I swear i see your face

From the thunderclap of the Kalashnikov to the metal jungle concrete block the bullets soar out to the stars with the angry mobs applause In a world that's found forever in a binary of ones and nevers Where here is over there and when is also where Across the horizon of mountain tops shines the antennas to our gods as we worship the satellites above who have gifted us with instantaneous A thumb typed complaint is taken for a prayer these days as we bundle what we say and send it light months away And we can take you to the moon and back again I've been riding freight trains in my dreams in a cloud of information medicine on our broken gypsy terra-van News bearing rockets are riding on ships down information highways where they cast adrift Through war torn foreign desserts where they collect jihadists and is anyone ever really equipped to be killing children? And the make pretend prophets flood the virtual markets with their distracting garbage that has refilled their pockets And all the food has been died And a slave made your tie and every sign is saying you should buy it It’s a good buy, good buy, good bye, goodbye buy bye Clown face painted killers are roaming the theaters Like lonely street preachers punishing all who can hear There's a ghost in the hallway of the school that had fallen victim to another broken misguided soul And the greedy old white men shout from their podium About how we are all threatened By the ‘coming insurrection’ Paraphrasing from scripture Claiming God's against nature In their rainbow of hatred they only see the world as dead And a stillborn seal fetus can enlarge your penis we’ll have weather like Venus in a dozen or so years And drones roam the sky feeding the all watching eye as the wounded soldiers come home to no one to belong to “And the cancer’s advanced but with enough money there’s a chance” said the hotshot robot surgeon while washing the blood off his hands “I’m sorry for your bad luck Or lack of better income Now could you please get in line with the other poor dying?” I can tell by your eyes you been lying to me its clear now the signs I didn't want to see So I buried my head and got lost in the screen Didn't want to wake up cause its safer in my dreams And I have to confess That although I protest All the waste greed and neglect It’s still a beautiful mess Meet me down at the spot Near the wood floor coffee shop Through the skyscrapers and ruin We set our sights on the moon And we can take you to the moon and back again I've been riding freight trains in my dreams In a cloud of information medicine on our broken gypsy terra-van

All hail the underdog the liar, the thief, the hobo, the dying the whore on her knees The petty, the full Those who just want relief And the guilt ridden madman who implodes once a week The anarchist slacker who hasn't a goal The rats in the cage The fish in the bowl The drunken old man who has drowned his own soul And the mutated nomad With his begging bowl And the hopeless romantics Frustrated with the world And the broken heart poets that write for us all The angry and bitter who saw they were dying And any poor fool that has been caught lying Any person that wears their heart on their sleeve To just have it stolen in someones time of greed All those who fight to have nothing to need Its the lonely and guilty I'll forever salute thee Some gypsy junky poetry these idle hands are choking me Yall never be in empathy till everythings in jeopardy Your giving into gravity, your holidays a fantasy The new Romes growing into a home for the elderly And now your loves enemy as you rise above your casualties The echo of there memories found there way into your dreams Swear you hear there prayers on the stairs of you recovery You'd share but no one cares about your nightmares in serenity You're not alright with your life so you been taking hostages And every soul that you could hold you glued yourself and bonded with You know your no one from nowhere and you mean nothing to nobody And in your sleep you greet the king who put the ink in everything But today maybe hopefully you'll be hearing me through poetry Metaphorically flowing out of me and into you subconsciously This is for the minority that I speak to need accordingly I am you as you are me I see and hear you Feelingly Now you can taste it with your hatred as your waiting for a train In a station with your patience as your soaking up the rain And you cant feel it as it heals it but youll never be the same So you do it cause you shouldnt and youll probably do it again And you save it as you crave it cause your greedy with your needs And you play it with the favorites on a list of all that bleeds And its beauty feels like cruelty and it bites the hand that feeds But youll kiss this loving darkness as the light begins to breathe Like your sweet breath in the wind Find your soul in the world As you cheat death again till maybe tomorrow And the moon will follow you wherever you go And wherever you roam theres that bright grinning rose Tell your love and your blood how much you respect them And never forget to write yourself an anthem An Anthem

I'm on the stoop singing tunes to the people I see Like I did yesterday There's hearts and names carved on the side of the tree that we would sit beneathe Ambulance sirens are crying their way through the heat Like a new born baby Drunk look like kites flying their way down the street Like I did when I was Sleeping Wake me and tell me I'm dreaming kiss me and tell me I'm crazy that you'll be here in the morning Like the sun when I wake up And I find that sometimes when wandering the winding highway of yesterday memories the street of 'You' was as sweet as the fruit off the tree that we would sit beneath Never forget the feel of your breast and body lying right next to me and the silhouette of our sex in the early morning while the world was sleeping The silver light of the moon at midnight in your room was as peaceful as anything I have seen and the summer air teasing your hair with its breeze just like you do to me oh how you move so smoothly, nimble, and free I've never felt so lucky How your eyes glowed when I told you that I was leaving please understand I was sleeping. Wake me and tell me I'm dreaming Kiss me and tell me I'm crazy That you'll be here in the morning And that everything will be okay And we don't have to be lonely There can be more to the story Like the sun When I wake up

SANGRIA Now the mountains are hazed in a vanilla cloud The suns coming through with a burning to be proud The breeze like a sigh breathing on her neck As the smoke seems to hang from her sanguine lips Like a stage, on a bench, off in the distance a chisled faced man covets a cigerrete Her body a tease as she gestures a kiss To be blown away by her sanguine lips And there’s music in the air and there silence is strong Heaven only knows this is there song Tapping the tune with his calloused fingertips As she mouths the words with her sanguine lips Saying “like a vine we can climb into the shelter of our arms They’re where the rain can do us no harm Safe in our love away from the storm And the sangria will keep us warm" Sanguine lips on no other Oh my Sangreal My darling Dulcinea You’ve left me in hell Insane and alone fighting windmills Soaked to the bone In Sangria And his hands find her hands and her heart beats with his And he holds back her hair and she lays on his chest And he hopes to have everything that she is Most above all those sanguine lips And they dream of the day when the world is okay With the love of each other and the calm it creates He glares at the ground and pounds down his fist Then she lifts his head up with her sanguine lips And her eyes catch his eyes and then meet within The snake found its tail the puzzle piece fits Off you go my pirate back to your ship She says so softly with her sanguine lips And the world is there for him to conquer But at sea he can only seem to dream of her No treasure on earth was better than his Lovely little girl with the sanguine lips So he yells to the crew turn this ship around And he searches for her but she can not be found And as the story goes you know there’s no end He’ll always be searching for her sanguine lips

DESPERATE ANNIE'S Now Desperate Annie calls you from halfway down the block and when you walk into her open arms she wishes you good luck there's a boozed up burnette pool shark who can smell blood from her throne and the irish boys trade war stories of going home alone "so come out and play its the end of the day" is what the lonely sing at the top of the hour the midnight crowd is wasting the night away and the shady unshaved groping old men are scattered all around Annie says there not welcome here so Brutus throws them out he seems gentle but he is nine feet tall and his fists way three hundred pounds he could probably bench press a Mack truck but your not about to find out And she'll drown you in a sea of empty rambling and the college girls with there thrift store pearls will make the jukebox sing the locals hold to the fooseball table as the grateful tip bell rings and the bartenders don't care if you curse in the presence of a lady at the foothills of the "barkeaters" is where you will find her in the party town of horse loving crowned gambling armatuers she is not the kind of girl you would want to wine and dine but if you find the time she's located on a street named Caroline "so come out and play its the end of the day" is what the lonely sing at the top of the hour the midnight crowd are wasting the night away

Well you say you found love in the land of the lost And you opened your heart like the oncoming frost But where are you now my smokescreen my liar? Where are you now my young gun for hire? So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair At least let down your guard and pretend to not care You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing Four stories to go, I suppose it’s worth trying In the panic of guilt you are sick to your stomach In this life that you’ve built you’ve obtained nothing Your masterpiece is broken at best poorly drawn Oh Rapunzel, Rapunzel where have you gone? And your mother lives her life in a bullet proof vest Like us all she prays for a quick painless death But where is the fun where is the romance Oh my dear Rapunzel would you care to dance? So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair At least let down your guard and pretend to not care You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing Two stories to go, I suppose it’s worth trying Well the sails are on fire the ship it is sinking Some blame the pilot and accuse him of drinking I blame the captain he should’ve known better He was locked in his cabin writing Rapunzel love letters We’re all butchers and beggars in this deck of cards And us Jokers are wild like the King of Hearts And this black cloud will follow me to the end of the earth Cause when it’s hot it burns and when it rains it pours So Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair At least let down your guard and pretend to not care You seem lonely in that tower I am tired of climbing Well I fell 15 stories and now I lay dying Oh Rapunzel, Rapunzel, now I lay dying

Well I guess several thousand years ago I suppose there was this one man show Some say that he even glowed Most just like the way he spoke I wonder if he enjoyed telling jokes? And four thousand years before him Rose from the earth the dawn of man Tempting eve and dumb Adam Feeling all ashamed in gods garden Should I keep snakes and apples from my children? And I know a lady who helps god sing About fire and brimstone, his sons rising How ya’ll burn if ya don’t believe She is saved and we are all missing I wonder if she needs god or therapy? She says “god aint here he is far” He don’t care about me only her Cause I like Jews gays and playing guitar Having sex and going to bars I wonder if he put breathing holes in her jar? Well I tasted your forbidden fruit then ate the tree from limb to root I did it with the help of my greedy hands and then thanked god for giving me them Congratulations ya’ll finally made it the lousy little poets have graduated no longer need your diaper changed ya made it to the first grade This is for all you homophobes You religious right fanatical You war hungry savages safe at home You abortion clinic bombing psychos When will you learn to leave the rest of us alone?

And who are these pirates singing for nothing? Hailing from freight trains like demons in heaven And who are these mothers praying for something? To take home from the bar and abuse there loving Be you a gypsy or Russian at home or squatting Just ripe or rotten or lost and forgotten The winter is perfect if you like the arctic The state birds a mosquito and summers a bitch Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women staying up all night blowing smoke in your face Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women full of lovely anecdotes and missing teeth You’re making love in your kitchen you feel lost but not missing The hung over television makes your home a more prison And your tongues in a knot and rant like a zealot as you instigate riots swearing your gods’ pilot Blushing with sarcasm do what you will have it at em As your minds having spasms spouting words like a fountain Like “don’t ya know?” No I don’t I know dead bodies float and the live sink for the whole world to quote Well I call it as I see it I’m sorry, didn’t mean it Just don’t cut it or make it like it did in my teens And if you are taking offence I must be making sense I plead innocence or guilty by circumstance Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women staying up all night blowing smoke in your face Minneapolis means whiskey and dreadlocked women full of lovely anecdotes and missing teeth

Cinder

It comes like a train, that some have named fate. You can't navigate, there is no escape. The nightsmares awake, and it needs to play. The games have begun. It's all or nothing. In your lonely kingdom, no dreams of freedom Or means to get some and it seems to add on. but sleep will not come till you eat the gun. or become the one that God is afraid of. Your world is a prison, what is more -- your victim. The record is broken, you are forced to listen. The storm is coming, the gods are laughing. The clouds are roaring like crowds applauding. And here the train comes, it follows the crumbs to where they came from it knows where you've gone. So it is time for treason, it's a crime to write songs. With rhymes like war drums and cries of passion. It has gone beyond love to almost become what you have always dreamed of and hoped would happen. So fuckin' hold on, you're riding the storm And all that it wants is for you to wake up. Beware, my friends, it is not safe. From down out here, you seem above & away. And when it ends, will you then pray? Or will you remain above and away? So come down, wake us up, and flow through us like blood. turn us like a clock till it burns us like a cut. Wind us like a knot And tie us to your flood And spill into our hearts And fill us back up. It's already in your home it's bleeding in your bed it's breathing on your phone it's leaving you in debt. You're sleeping in your fears you're dreaming you woke up as we shout from down out here can you hear me now, God? Beware, my friends, it is not safe. From down out here, you seem above & away. And when it ends, will you then pray? Or will you remain above and away?

Careen Sleep my child in the arms of love and dream forever while your laugh fills our world The shadows they play on the walls, dancing with the candles in a waltz in a waltz The three of us sway cheek to cheek, like a breeze blowing through the trees till they fall till we fall Your words are cold, your eyes hiding, like the wind love drifts away in a waltz in a waltz Your heart is gone, my hands empty, the leaf it holds to the tree till it falls till we fall Like a restless storm we swept through it all As we swayed through the ruins of what used to be love in a waltz in a waltz And its 1-2-3 1-2-3 never let go! Hold on to me as we careen, spin, and fall till we fall till we fall And we whirled across the floor like a lost hurricane Your hand on my shoulder and mine on your waist Around and around as the wind picked up strength And pounded down with each step in our sway And you bend in my arms like a silk willow tree As we twirl and circle and drift and careen In a manic swirl of hysterical laughter In a triple time glide spinning faster and faster And the wind is a whisper as we lean and spiral And matching our steps find our place in this world Of diagonal cartwheels on sundered chess boards Of unending waltzes in kaleidoscope storms And like a downpour the crowd erupts into applause As the music keeps fading in a dying encore And I pray it never ends that we can dance forever How could it end now when we have made it so far? And the curtains are torn, the ballroom is empty The guests are long gone and the children are sleeping The storm has faded to a gentle breeze And our waltz has become another memory So here's to the onlookers who have never done Here's to the mistake makers of which we are one Here's to sleeping children safely dreaming at home And here's to the lovers who still dance the waltz