DESCARTES HIGHLANDS
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Trail Remains Unseen
Leave the house,
Your lover,
And Children.
Take the car,
Drive it down to the ocean,
Cut your cards
Burn the letters you were given,
In every word they swore true love was hidden
Tear apart your black suit,
Cut your hair to its roots,
Smoke your last cigarette
One last comforting breath.
Then you howl down that road,
Where all your brothers and sisters wouldn’t go,
Dream of girls that made you feel fifteen,
With the palest skin,
And her mother’s sympathy.
But that trail remains unseen.
Take the urn,
Spread its ash on the garden,
Every leaf will carry her love in the summer.
Turn the dial,
Let the long wave flutter,
Fighting static and song beneath the ether.
Under a clear crescent moon,
You hum along out of tune,
Every doubt is erased,
Spills out the car and into space,
As you howl down that road,
Where all your brothers and your sisters wouldn’t go,
As the fields turn to coast,
Let the water scare away all of your ghosts,
Of the girls you held at seventeen,
They had skinny waists and teenage liberty.
All these things that you have seen.
Every star,
Every stone,
Every soul you’ll never know,
Spiralled out that great spark,
To let us know that once we weren’t so far apart.
From the girls that made you feel sixteen,
How your brothers t-shirt hung above her knees.
All these things that you have seen.
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A Lunar Veteran's Guide to Re-entry
So you dances in the corner.
Shaking limbs under red hair.
Storyboards every evening.
They’re in yours,
You’re in theirs.
And she saw,
Black eyes while sleeping.
Lord, she saw,
Jesus in clouds.
All around,
Forest fires were creeping.
While strangers left her house.
So you feared debutants.
With black nails,
In a white dress.
Clicked their heels,
Kissed the boys,
Until their rosaries burned their necks.
And she saw,
Childhood friends whispering,
Lord she saw,
Old flames in sheets.
All around,
Prying eyes were glistening…
While strangers left her house.
You were the light. And you’d shine.
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Let The Carousel Display You & I
Joanna,
As I lie in your arms tonight,
Let the carousel display you & I,
As you close your eyes tonight.
Let kaleidoscopic shapes that combine,
Be your lullaby tonight.
We’ll cry.
Cry
But your eyes are dry tonight.
Joanna,
You can light up the road at night,
But you leave me in the darkest places sometimes.
Won’ you stay awake tonight?
We’ll cry,
Cry.
But your eyes are dry tonight.
We’d dance.
We’d dance.
When we were high.
When we were high.
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Santa Muerte's Lightning & Flare
I fell into Santa Muerte’s eyes,
Cadillac lips that shine but don’t smile,
She said,
‘’Listen Love, I don’t ever cry,
I can sleep at night,
No regrets keep my eyes wide.
You just looked lonely tonight.’’
It was a well-rehearsed line,
Told one hundred times.
Put her hand on mine,
And the world just turned under our feet.
Lord, I’ve never felt so old.
You were lighting,
Lighting and Flare.
In a photograph,
You wore L.A shades,
Under shelter hiding from the Northern rain.
On the barest wall you hung there, unafraid.
Oh those glory days,
See how you’ve changed.
As you clean the paint from your tired eyes,
Love, in each line’s a tale.
You were lightning,
Lightning and Flare.
