released January 2, 2023

throbbing mattress kitten
archaeology confession 192
====
we all thought the world would end with a bang
we were wrong, it ended in fire and ice
the artifice we built came tumbling down
and under the rubble we were left to whimper quietly

this is just one man's journal
slices of life before, during
and after the fall

whoever finds this confession
i hope our apology does not leave
a bitter taste in your mouth

====

blue sunrise, orange sunset
trees sway to windy music
hollow doves call above the city
their beaks bloat with river refuse
choking out their tortured cries
echo back from suspension bridges

cables taut, downward pressure
crawling beings, insect shrieks
cut the air, cling to earth
swaying creak imperceptible to ear

buildings act with the spinning earth
tidal hours are much harder
hundreds of feet where they hover
waves permeate the atmosphere

a solid mass, tiny humans
crushed to the ground
flattened there by a huge
incomprehensible sound

the sun has warmed the buildings here
their tall bodies sit like radiator coils
in a bathtub of water and a plugged-in shaver
the shock of the shimmering translucent heat
the coals of a sidewalk burning their feet
as they scurry towards dark recesses
structures that set off the heat
and the coolness inside in deep, harsh contrast

an oven of roasting earth on a spit
somewhere in a city july present

====

leaves hit the ground
--
fall attacks
leaves hit the ground
you're coming back
the trees are still around
oh yeah
sitting at the top of a season
you're leaving
to plant your stick in the ground

====

chance
--
chance is a funny guy
sitting at an overpiled desk
setting up chancewise moments
he sets up coincidence

see how chance has brought us together
how many ways could our lives have gone

we're on chance's good list
some of us avoid his twisted fist
somehow get on his friendly side
this time, two people collide

in love...

====

dusty town
--
dust sticks to our wheels
as we drive through town
turns our white walls
a dusty brown
collecting up a stranger's
rusty nail
the punctured wheezing
of escaping air

remember that you told me when and how
how the night would end
how you would again begin
how you would begin again

life is way too short
for all of us
rat race train is full
so take the bus
a day's full of wondering
about this life

open window
and our blowing hair

our blowing hair

====

blood is cold
--
the blood is cold
icy through your veins
tracking gold and the day's remains

your freedom sold
for confining chains
the power holds you within its cage

fires burn
illuminate the neon
burned upon your eyes
and then it's fleeting
guns and wars
cars float overhead
iron minds
both alive and dead

get to the soul of the city
she cried to him and wept
cut the wires that chain us
marionettes in electric death

apartment blocks
rise into the sky
no sun to break its way into your eyes
only haze
and misty dinnish gray
that obscures
diminishing day

why breathe, when you can't crawl
why see, when you're blind to all
don't look forward in the breeze
don't look from behind the trees

get to the soul of the city
she cried to him and wept
cut the wires that chain us
marionettes in electric death

====

jezebel
--
on the longest ride
the seven year ride
i fear i've left you lonely

packed my bags
and saddled my pride
was hoping that you'd come
peaceful like

such a strange life
like the one you had
jezebel

you have probably
watched each day of your life
pass slowly as thunder

and i for my part
in this barren place
my thoughts turn to you daily

do you remember my face
or the curve of my neck
jezebel

this seven year ride
god curse it to hell
i pray that you are well

take cheer in the knowledge
that i am well
and waiting for time to tell us

that we'll be united
upon my return
jezebel

====

no horses in hell
--
there are no horses in hell
and you always rode well

'cause what's a cowboy to do
sitting on the prairie stirring stew
wondering about what lies beyond
his horse, his saddle, and high noon

but the cattle are shuffling back behind
and he feels the ache in his leg's need to ride
a companion and his horse travelling on
through the outdoors and the great beyond

'cause every one of us goes where we're meant to be
and i know you've gone to a place where you're free
to a place where the trees still stand proud with age
where strangers stand stripped of rage
where the animals are no longer afraid
a circle of hands where war once laid

there are no horses in hell
and i know you rode well

====

archaeology confession 192
--
shadows fall
break in silence
shadows fall
breaks in silence

sharp darkness falls upon the painted hills
an oppressive cloud that hovers above and patiently kills
in this future, humans cower in caverns with shanty town builds
lit up by a single bulb, a light filament and a vacuum above

radiation breathers are handed out to the little kids
here's the hope that their youth can bring us all out of this
the future we've created for ourselves seems to be quite grim
a barren landscape, a symptom of the sickness that lies hidden within

he'll scavenge for rats, if you'll scavenge for mice
hungry as hell, even the sick rodents entice
need the food, need the food, need the food to survive
need the food, need the food, need the food to survive

deadly eyes, desperate situation

sad lives drop dead from the lack of attention
disease and plague from hubris driven invention
a single leader who lords and towers above
with his armies, his weapons, and his iron fisted love

one day you hope to break your way through to the sunshine above
say enough to the sadness and the lust and the emptiness
say enough to the stress and the cold and the indifference
say enough to the cold hard facts that circle and encompass us

holding tight, twisting round to break free

shadows fall
break in silence
shadows fall
breaks in silence

sharp darkness falls upon the painted hills
an oppressive cloud that hovers above and patiently kills
in this future, humans cower in caverns with shanty town builds
lit up by a single bulb, a light filament and a vacuum above