one ever dreamed this could ever be,
and yet here we are losing our reality.
Falling so silently, people in the street
stopped immobilized, paralyzed with disbelief.
No one ever dreamed this could ever be,
and yet here we are redefining what is human.
Run. You can run,
but you’ll only come right back around.
Latent feelings rise; instincts mobilize.
Shattered on the ground, an old illusion
leaves us now.
No one ever dreamed this could ever be,
and yet here we are: there’s more to life than
cells and drones, sticks and stones, skies and domes...
Run. You can run,
but you’ll only come right back around.
Get on Get off
I lost my mind I just couldn’t find it
I was alive but only through habit.
I couldn’t see into the future
couldn’t bring my brain to remember.
Get on/Get off
Well it was there all along I just couldn’t find it.
Hiding in the walls of my mind, reviving.
Hide and go seek, follow the white rabbit
and you’ll never never, never never find your way back.
Get on/Get off
I live my life with no regretting,
so if I hurt your feelings, well forgive and forget it.
We’re not here for a long time, so try not to sweat it
because when this ride is over, you can start it all again.
Get on/Get off
Contents
Behind the Veil
I made a magic potion and it’s gonna make me rich.
Not rich as in with money, but rich in happiness.
I made it out of water and then I said a prayer.
I drank it down real thirsty; I expect magic everywhere.
Make believe that you are famous;
make believe you cannot fail;
make your magic potion, then
meet me behind the veil.
I made a magic potion to see you in my dreams.
I always see you in the daytime
but you never notice me.
As of today there is no question;
take a good look at this face.
When the sandman comes to get you,
there will be no more escape.
I made a potion and it’s gonna make me rich.
I made a potion and it’s gonna make me rich.
I made a potion and it’s gonna make me rich.
Turning Thirty
The day I turned 30
my legs turned to cheese.
My butt dropped 3 inches
the first time I sneezed.
Crows took up nest
at the corner of my eyes
and canyons appeared
every time that I smiled.
No one can mistake me now
for a little girl.
Here is a woman
come into the world.
Centipede
Clunkity Clunk goes this hunk down a chunk of dirt.
One hundred legs work in groups and
move forward in waves from back to front.
Hard shell shines brown in the sun
as one hundred legs march on
amongst dead leaves and leather bound feet.
Just watch how the sandals will make way for him:
such a burden to bare so potent a venom.
Justine
I’ve known Justine since 1983.
Her eyes are on fire - she doesn’t miss a beat.
We’ve been through love,
we’ve been through family.
We’ve been through it all,
me and my friend Justine.
Oh some people hear the call
and answer back with everything they’ve got.
Oh some people have to fight
to hold on to love, to hold on to life.
Then some people have got it all
and they let it slip away before they
know what’s gone.
But not my friend Justine.
She stands for everything.
She’s marched for trees and for whales,
and for democracy.
Her smoldering eyes remember
everything they’ve read.
She’ll tell you no lies until the day she’s dead.
Infectious and clean, she’ll leave you feeling good.
Oh my friend Justine has so much more to give.
Her children are flames,
they’re dancing in the streets.
Some day when she’s gone
I’ll miss her endlessly.
If one hundred years could bring us to Mars,
and send robots to space way out beyond the stars,
why can’t we seem to solve our physical problems,
Or slow the passage of time, or forever be lovers?
Star Gazer
Star gazer
you lucky boy.
Star gazer,
from a time long ago.
How many do you see?
star gazer
save a wish for me.
When all the lights
go down
take a trip to the roof,
rest your head in your palms
watch the stars coming out.
Star gazer
you lucky boy.
Star gazer
from a time long ago.
How many stars can you see?
Star gazer,
save a wish for me.
Star gazer,
save a wish for me.
You can name
the constellations
when the season is right.
Can find your own
direction,
just wait for twilight.
Oh save some
darkness in the night
for the star gazers.
For it’s the star gazers
who bring our dreams
into light.
Walking On My Toes
All the things I left behind
I used to feel were so important.
Now I feel so light, and all I need,
all I need is your love.
A bag of woes I used to carry.
It dragged me down; my feet were so heavy.
But now I’m walking on my toes;
my heart is singing and it glows.
All because I let it go
and I’m not gonna worry anymore.
Held a secret locked in my heart,
so afraid of losing his trust,
but I made a choice and I let it go:
if you love someone you gotta let them know.
Season of Rain
They fall simultaneous,
one by one, at every conceivable interval,
on every inch of land, every blade of grass,
every wide-brimmed cap.
Colorless, odorless, flavorless gas forms in the sky
into what we call clouds.
Up there in heaven they don’t look as wet
as all these big puddles would seem to suggest.
Inside, the noise is a constant ratt-a-tatt-tatt.
Through a widow’s tears: two birds fly back to their nest.
Changing Winds
Tempered by the changing winds,
I am broken and made whole again.
Over and over again,
I suture my heart,
strengthen the mend.
And I will love again.
I will love again.
I will love again.
As the world turns
time heals all wounds.
In the end,
time heals all wounds my friend.
> As we grow old my friend,
the winds blow on my friend.
Contents
Capricorn Moon
He waited for her there
on the star-lit trestle,
dangling legs above rushing river waters.
She would return on schedule
with glowing face round and freckled;
summer dress down to her ankles,
flowing against her figure,
like rushing river waters
curving around a stone.
Always at midnight, never before,
they meet there on the trestle
above rushing river waters
when the moon’s in Capricorn.
Brandon’s Poem
You and I watched the stars
come out from inside.
We pretended;
Lying on the floor, said nothing.
More than ten years of friendship
is between us and breaking that is my worst fear.
So we just stared at the ceiling
counting stars that weren’t there.
But you and I both observed that
if we were to have been outside,
we would have seen them.
White
Are you ready to tell me your secrets?
We can walk to the estuary,
Feed them to the swans. They will be safe,
Gliding over the water, carried in the gut.
I’ll come clean too, and we’ll fill the birds up.
What if our lies sink like stones?
Let them fall on each other.
Let them fall on each other and make a tomb
of white feathers, so many stones have we thrown.
But, if our words aren’t too heavy,
and our secrets not too many,
at sunset they’ll be carried
with the white fowls, atoned.
Point?
Who grows next to me must be my brother;
who sits beside me in time could uncover a hidden face: alien race.
Family lines the path faced:
two paths, never crossing, may start and split apart at birth.
Took proximity for likeness, interest for kindness.
When temporarily blind, it’s best to let the heart guide.
Archaic Memories
Dreams decades old still surface to remind me
of lessons learned long ago; in most of them, I’m drowning.
In sleep-time I learned to be swept away by waves big like tsunamis.
I taught myself how to breathe if water should surround me.
I don’t dream of drowning anymore. I only dream of swimming.
But the difference between sleep and wake is only in believing.
Totem
I see my totem pole,
a stack of funny faces,
tongues out, mouths round
like pass a dutchie to the left hand side,
or hoot hooting like an owl,
or something more foul.
Woody, with exposed skin,
paint-peeling, slightly leaning,
impotent, for the receiver.
I see my totem pole,
an old story that I don’t know.
Like this tree, it was here before me.
Its secret sleeps in the grave at its feet,
where heroes and villains lie buried.
Sometimes in a breeze through icy air I can hear,
I swear, a bear and an eagle lock feet.
They’ll beg you to stay.