Sky Blue Bells

Surely it was some kind of time travel

that always seemed to take longer than it should

that rarely came to any good

that offered the kind of hope 

pitted against itself

the understanding, the knowing 

that 

they didn’t want me

even as I wanted them 

or 

needed them

 

The Puda and his stuttering hipster

The sheer volume that pushed us all to the back before the brave could walk to the front again

Weird Laura , who knew how to make things

(except conversation)

She strung a bunch of numbers together and 

never said another word about it 

until the one night that the old town decided I was better than all right

And, even then, it was short lived

ill sighted

and I’m sure Bryan let them drive away without me

I was clinging to someone else’s idea of what I should be worth

That’s the part that really hurts

An embarrassment of t-shirts

T-tops and sweet tea

Georgian but blind

forgetting the best parts 

being unkind

 

Once, in 1998, the new ones nibbling around the weird ones in the old town came to my town

brought me up while they brought you down

You couldn’t make the first bit of sense of it, said

“Why would anyone listen to this stuff, 

let alone sing along?