happy new year the vinyl sign said at the corner of the chinese church I was standing on the springs of a broken bed doing light historical research it was raining the highway's sweat and the overpass was muscular and gay I felt like a small mistreated pet trying to find the spca there was an error and the chinese new year ended up colliding with the west's it was sad to see the paper dragon's wounded ear and the lo mein on the policemen's vests when the reporter that the newspaper sent wrote about the story the next day I was quoted and referred to as a dissident so I put that on my resume I was standing on the edge of a broken year measuring its shallowness and gripes I was torturing my sinuses to squeeze out another tear I was beating myself up with pipes now I'm howling at a wet firework in the sky throwing a cigar at its heart billions of people know the word why none of them could take it apart but once I knew an usher in a concert hall who fetishized his flashlight glass it was sad cause we knew his name was paul and he called himself the cowboy of ass happy new year the vinyl sign said at the corner of the chinese church I was standing on the springs of a broken bed doing light historical research

I like night time better than the day let's drink green tea and fall for things in the worst way let's stay up all night meet me in the shop we can write it down on a piece of lucy's handmade paper we'll be writing your name and mine your name and mine let's go out into the yard and drink red wine and do things you do when you know you're gonna live a while let's put on slim slow slider and tennessee meet me in the shop we can write it down on a piece of lucy's handmade paper we'll be writing your name and mine your name and mine someday soon we'll have a better view late at night we'll see a tree or two oh remember new year's last year there's not much more to lose oh look ahead my love it's gold not black and blue meet me in the shop we can write it down on a piece of lucy's handmade paper by the tribune lights and the howden too and the white from all the nearby windows the bellevue-staten stands by the lake waits by the lake tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow when there is a sky not to visit you not to visit me we'll be writing your name and mine your name and mine

I couldn't sleep I was watching the night it was throwing little pebbles at the the back of my head I was building a city for one sawing legs off my childhood bed I was thinking I should be more concrete like the offices of d-list whores don't waste time with the panty-waist types and the losers of the wars my ears were ringing from your victory screech they were echoing your deafening credo like a terrorist's victim in europe I staggered out in a horrible speedo someone was blamed for all the hot sandals and the ones that filled up with sand you should be sued for that horrible cell phone you should have to lose a foot or a hand I know a man who has a ready opinion and it's a truly insufferable thing when the wholesome has married the loathsome can you tell me what gift I should bring? I can't escape from his eager McFace his tawdry crush on Mayor McCheese is it better to blow civilization than it is to force it down on its knees live with the people of the shared silver tongue it's just one tongue I don't know how they clean it I think they sleep in a hydrogen bath and what they say they seem to mean it we play traditional western strip volleyball and the loser gets set free I think they must have hydrogen eyes they say it's hard for them to see

mill creek chesapeake muddy lane in the rain rusted chain in the shell-crusted maryland mud the land is only bowls and swales the rolling of a god who drinks and holds a reel and rod midday by the bay harbor pier whiskey and beer people dance where a second floor rainproofs a hangout in the middle of the downpour can't we bring you home can't we bring you home we've got whiskey we've got rain as well the place is just the way it was the last day that you came I swear it's just about the same morning's quiet things early grace saves a place you should be moving in that waving green sometimes you are but other times you're nowhere to be seen can't we bring you home can't we bring you home we've got whiskey we've got rain as well

black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile I wouldn't call it the warmest greeting but it's true that nothing breakable got thrown we felt like spies at a secret meeting like spiders in an ice cream cone and I wouldn't call it gracious how everyone sat and barely gave a sideways glance we tried to let you know we left our baseball bat with those friends we made in france black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile half-eaten meat on a piece of purple cloth and a mean hound warily surveys us digging up the bones of your favorite visigoth and displaying all the findings on trays someone opened up the mouth and a stone fell out and it rolled beneath the flower-patterned couch we were fabricating tombstones from bowling balls and grout when we heard the dirty jawbone saying "ouch" black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile there were halfhearted gestures like really weak tea and they intensified the chips and the dip we picked up the message that you don't get it for free it's more like you earn it with a whip there was all this white mist and the big picture view was looping a defective cliche saying love is a horse that will someday turn to glue and lovers are pieces of hay black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile when you took us on the road to the overseer's house we were slipping on the cold hard-packed ground you were gnawing on the neck bone of a ring-necked grouse and you were hoping that he wouldn't be around you were tearing down the trees with your big fat hands just as idly as a baby throws a book you were dreaming of a trial where there is no witness stand and the jurors have all promised not to look black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose if you smile when we finally had our dinner in the dining room I was glad you left the football game on it was pork on pork on pork on pork it was yet another spiritual dawn no one said anything remotely close to certain things that people could have said it was a dangerous reckless super-dose of the savior's tasteless bread black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile there were many miles to go in that dead-grey place where you figured you would take us just for kicks so you had us carve pictures of your horrible face with our fingertips bleeding on the bricks you were laughing at a thought so hollow and dull when you idly swung your club around your knees you killed one of your kids with a stove-in skull so you had us all throw her in the trees black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile I was eating and drinking to keep from speaking and solving any problems of the day like a backwards boat the house was leaking there were tables and there were chairs in the bay I thought I heard the window start to chuckle I believe that I heard it say everything is wild it's a dream it's a name it's a mind it's a bone on a tray black wine black wine that black black wine from the bottle to the belly of the child she's fine black wine there are other things that shine and you lose when you smile

In the morning when you wake up may you find you're not alone may the tangle of your footsteps leave you where you feel at home may the white misty beauty of a summer morning by the sea find the angels are all sleeping cause there's nowhere that they have to be harbor saints wont you come recognize me and what I demand that a man can have a purpose that no angel would ever understand understand and walk with me and feel this knife blade that's pressed inside my sleeve and say a man can have a purpose that would make every angel grieve in the morning when I wake up may I find I'm not alone may the tangle of my footsteps leave me where I feel at home may the white misty beauty of a summer morning by the sea fnd the angels are all sleeping cause there's nowhere that they have to be

let's paint a vietnam on a wall in a room where they build a bomb we'll know that it's carrying when it falls down upon some nation endless couples marrying in a second summer of love then when the troops come we'll go along in the flash of the beating drum wearing masks and showering happy symbolic friendly paper hopeful people flowering in a sunshine daydream on a lawn in south kenosha you were lisa and I was dave or were you ruth and was I moshe living in a cave I don't know where I am someone call the gendarmes all I see are farms where are the buildings all the tanks the missiles are those soldiers falling on a lawn in south kenosha you were lisa and I was dave or were you ruth and was I moshe trying to choose which kid to save on a lawn in south michigan or wisconsin I don't know which you were lisa and I was dave living in a cave

it's a night time thing getting people in the ring fool em once and shame on them but fool em twice fool em twice and that is just not nice it's hard to make paradise killing people is good business it's just a drag the flag you're waving is all faded out it's pink tan and grey it's over bang on a drum where the people get wild buck wild getting angry at a chocolate child fool em once and shame on them but fool em twice fool em twice and that is just not nice it's hard to make paradise killing people is good business it's just a drag the flag you're waving is all faded out it's pink tan and grey it's over bang on a drum it's a drag the flag you're waving is all faded out it's pink tan and grey it's over it's a drag the flag you're waving is all faded out it's pink tan and grey it's over bang on a drum

hard branches and faces in the diamonds faces in the crescents too new mothers bringing hardly more than islands out into this world of blue who loves them and who loves them not white raven sails over a parking lot more footsteps on the walk, then the doorbell more coats on the rack good people making heaven out of hell fifty voices beat it back who loved him or who loved him not white raven sails over a parking lot and it's shuddering and juddering in the winter wind high up in those northern wilds where the people give a name give a name where the old timers shake their heads where the people walking way down in the southern sun have a mirror in the northern lights where the high school kids are used to the darkness cause the sun don't come around till noon where the wings are muffled by the snow and the people know the quiet well where the cold is like a god's strong finger and they call him white wings who loved him or who loved him not white raven sails over a parking lot who loved him or who loved him not white raven sails over a parking lot

second sunday in ordinary time with the hot suits and the fashion crimes it's you and me somehow walking now can you tell me how I could be here walking and I could be hanging with that ceremonial chime in the beams of second sunday in ordinary time second sunday in ordinary time and the bride's a little past her prime it's you and me somehow walking now with my aching brow burn in every line where the praying mothers know it only costs a dime for a wish on second sunday in ordinary time and I don't mind that we're moving up that's all right, but it's the damn golden cup that stays half empty in the hands of second sunday in ordinary time it's you and me somehow walking now where the crowds allow and when they leave we shine all the golden things that were covered up with grime from the gears of second sunday in ordinary time second sunday in ordinary time with the hot suits and the fashion crimes

dull and sickening colors moving over the eyes boredom and its brothers they track me like bad spies a theater darkness gets inside of the mind like in some experimental film that has got to be hard to understand so everybody goes to sleep people who sleep are helpless effortless so anything might make em dream they're masters working over a scene editing disasters and pulling words out of screams skin on wet pavement is that a memory to keep close in an experimental film when the filmmaker fields questions he's unique just the way he speaks... when I came out bloody I was brought into breath and fate decreed I'd study a life that's linked to someone's death over my sister a surgeon's hand in the blood like in some experimental film