Choker

Hands around that slender goose
Her hands I’d take a liken to
My ugly mug shot starin’ from a locket
On a velvet noose

As I watched that wooden ceiling,
The pulley nailed up on the rafters
And I heard that varnish-peeling,
Alkeelhaulic laughter and I said
“Pull it tight and hitch the knot,
We’ll draw upon what’s gone before,
Hoist me up so I can soar.”

Hey I’m down here and it’s waist deep,
I’m looking up that tunnel well,
The only light that’s starin’ down
Is sucked in by your shadow.
This is a sunken hole, if you throw me a line
I’ll tie it twice around, and it hangs
From your neck down to mine.

Pull it tight and hitch the knot,
We’ll draw upon what’s gone before,
Hoist me up so I can soar.

Pull the ribbon off your throat;
You’re standing naked on the stones.
Heaven tears as it’s unraveled,
To reveal its bitter truth:
The clouds hang in rags and tatters,
No angelic light shows through.
All that shown was all that mattered,
A conscious absence — nothing there.
Shaming me for ever wanting,
Spring is over, winter’s here.

Hambone City

GOD DAMNED DOGS!

They were a callin and a-growlin’ and a-foulin’ and a fallin’,

as they slid on the stones under blacksmith skies.

Light bulbs swingin’ , the sore throats singin’,

the rain it was stingin’ their hell-hound eyes.

Hot on their heels and cold in their tracks,

one eyed cowered on the sour trash they devoured,

The other watchin’ over their mangy backs.

They were  ballin’ and bitchin’ and barkin’ their lungs,

sinkin’ the mud while sinkin’ their jaws

Shakin’ their necks, slappin’ their tongues,

devouring the streets, leaving tracks of their paws.

They stopped for the night and they pissed where they stood,

their gums flashed black and they lowered their heads

Stared at each other while the rain hit the roof,

the first one asleep is the first one dead.

GOD DAMN!  GOD DAMNED DOGS!

Breathe The Thing Out

Breathe the thing In, Breathe The Thing Out,

Breathe the thing In, Breathe The Thing Out,

Through these old sick lungs, residue from our past

Gagging up the trust we’ve broken,

giving in to the crumbling like old hacks.

Desperation of our search, and what we’ll find

A long forgotten sickness, spitting out a lie

“Aves la noche…sometimes the night,

Takes you with it, wraps you up and rolls you along

Leaving you washed in sleep, at the morning’s edge…

and sometimes the night goes on without you.”  *

In with the good air, our with the bad.

Corrupted inside me, a chance it never had.

Time elapsed suffocation, some call this perfect health.

All I know, this is all I’ve felt.

Breathe the thing In, Breathe The Thing Out,

Breathe the thing In, Breathe The Thing Out,

In with the good air, our with the bad.

Corrupted inside me, a chance it never had.

Time elapsed suffocation, some call this perfect health.

It’s all I know, it’s all I’ve ever felt.

If these old shaking hands weren’t banging on my chest,

Once again unconscious, maybe I could get some rest.

Respiration of our search, and what we’ll find

A long forgotten sickness, swallowing a lie.

*From “At Paso Rojo” by Paul Bowles

Rubberape

Gnawing on her knuckles while the woman was a walkin’,

only an eel skin bound around her own one.

Too many steps she kept a foot-fallin’,

 A momentary glare from the ice on the street.

Baby blue heaven, don’t get around much,

sweet little angel, she was shot out of the sky.

You better take a wrap dear,

 this cold will be the death of you.

Wrap The Little ones tight and tuck in their tails,

Swallowed down the river mouth, he’s well on his way

Cups her hands and splashes her face.

Disturbed by sleep, only when she’s awake.

Shed us your skirt and give us a kiss dear,

(I’m constantly amazed at how easily the skin peels)

Drop it on a floor in heap with the others,

we’re hot buttered snakes a-swimmin’ in the  flash fry.

Weighed her options on an opium scale,

she was pushed and pulled and lulled and punctured.

Beating on her chest, she was pounding out a rhythm,

the neoprene nose it nodded in agreement.

One by one shooting monkeys in a barrel.

Seitenwagen – German and English lyrics

German translation and phoned in performance by our friend Daniel in Frankfurt.

Seitenwagen

Smooth grinding of the miles, a stained-glass look at broken land.

Friction in the cylinders, a throttle blast of sun-burned sand.

Heat through you, my love, Irma shaking in my hands.

Drunken dogs in uniforms, hang under their cigarettes.

Bolt Breaks, Sidecar, over the cliff, Free flight, Earthbound…

The ground’s so near, it’s so clear.