was there really any trouble with jackson lee?

­­­gap analysis of the states we couldn’t name 

the whole thing changed

nothing was the same

what you can sell doesn’t amount to much

there was a young hope   knew how to cope but

no photos left    dope smoked

nothing to put together    the puzzle didn’t make anything

at least that’s the way he wrote

what lingered was facts

not knowledge

            and certainly not truth

facts

that was when i began to forget

leaving behind

the millions

   alex chilton

alex clifton

the woman in chiffon

the perfume she had on

and on    and on

was it real man?  was it me?

         was there really any trouble with jackson lee?

with anything?

we did know a few things about smiles

the smoke hilton

    blue ass ohio
where nobody knew that the courtyard turned standard
and that standard would populate so rapidly

but we did know a few things about smiles

and how much it costs

for travel to weary and forget where it was

in water

falling

collecting in rocks

sorry conversation  turned out to be locks

and lies  

subtle claims to defy

proving again 

we were 

aiming 

         too high

the near future

go directly to ‘bryter layter’ and listen repeatedly to ‘northern sky’

then meet me under the western new york bright star light for the first snow of the new season  late in the fall  geographical treason won’t matter at all  stand under those stars   marbles in hearts let the falling snow fall   over us all  breathe       and long      sing that song

never felt magic     crazy as this

      truth

but not      you

today was different the air was wetter there were phone calls designed to remember to forget her and i appreciate your idea that it will get better    someday in one way she’d tell us to let her

we deal with finance     finance and feeling that alone will get things reeling   and shaking like memories firm in the making  hard not to notice the word wake in awaken   on the monday in spring    she was finally taken

      and i know   to be awkward near you  has a future  

a young person's guide to pressboarding

do your best to keep an open mind

      stretch it out for weeks at a time

then    make the same mistakes your entire life

    but if it should happen to break tonight

if it should happen to break    like    like

i mean just go ahead and

     blink twice  if you hear it    or feel it

till you know that it’s right

           or at least until you’re sure that she might

a waterfall bend

be here tomorrow to do it again

             the best was worn against my neck

it was built on sand    what did you expect

the lies that bring the many smiles

wouldn’t burn   given time

   you’d think we’d learn  

maybe        right?

take one step closer to the light

that extra step   will loose the tight

      but don’t question fear   it could be right

evo   lution       that is why

something is riding on this

but you   don’t know what it is

    do you

skin-and-bones?

    the next kiss

just don’t tell the kids

looking back

not sure why i did

a novella about pride in yourself  

 bringing it one step closer to health

proving for once that right    is a time

       is it leaped or leapt    you decide

                                                                each step one closer to    

                                                                               what  i’ll 

 find

  The Execution of Emperor Maximilian -Edouard Manet 

the other lies with you

part of the other twenty percent   even if you knew   every easy worry   every cause of doubt  if you breathe in flurries   if you are work   ing   it  out  stop all the anger long enough to blink    you were bluffed into this corner    with a nod   and a wink    still      sits unsaid that you have been here too     this hole   this role   this day   this way  exorcism exer-say    figure time bigger time finger trigger trigger mine   washed in rhyme  wanted be  haunted me wanting fin haunted me haunted him daunted them    prey to pin grey and thin  pray for peace or   pray to sin the same way again   have   question   leave  guessing  pushed to the side   control is a question i answer all the time all and all and all  but two   one shortly leaving one    the other lies with you 

photo by the marble tea

http://marbletea.tumblr.com/

the marble hearted and their jars taking cues from motion picture stars

if someone only listened/only heard/only knew

                       tried to keep him alive

what would he do?

glimmer      wins

                            but only at night

it’s easy to tell the wrong from the right

it’s not so easy to follow through

marbles underfoot

 oceans too

iknowwhattodoiknowwhattodo

                        i know how to say it                                    just don’t know if it’s true

this music

                                                       it’s making me

you   

is it telling

                                                                                                  the 
                                                                                      truth?

this one’s a smile   this one’s a joke

this is that one time you convinced me to smoke

this one’s amazing    that one’s apparent

the one by the door is simply inherent

what a mess now that it’s all come to naught

your sisters   d’ they tell you?               weren’t you taught?

look

this one here’s from ninety-six

that one is made out of bitters and bricks

that one waited until the drums had gone out

this one looks like sam smith’s oatmeal stout

the one on the rug is certainly too proud

to ever call back

or say it out loud

and there’s two in the kitchen made entirely of lust

                               and one so well hidden you might think 

      

                            that it’s     us

the promise you made is the promise i keep

every night when            and before i can sleep

when angles are open and arrogance dies

when                               the hopes/hearts/and dreams          mix

                                                                                                           with the supplies

when the last of   the gentle    have eaten and gone

and your line of defense is a tom waits song

             it’s the saddest sound that you’ve ever heard

without the need                         for a guitar   

or a word

and the pride that you thought would carry you through

                       is as useless to me as      white boy blues

but every syllable leaving   her   mouth

                                              is soft

     and assuring

just like the south

hope is fantastic and meaning the word

the melody felt

not the melody heard

the remedy thought but never applied

and the lonely ghost

of a  question

                why?

* this is part one of a two part series written with Alexandra Clifton.

you can see both in the new issue of we, the notorious pronouns

here