Vocabulary
1.Saw the Legs
saw the legs of the piano,
and stuff your ears with cotton
like stilts on a guillotine,
the wood is finally rotten
and all the planks and the people
hold their bodies wide
like people do when people see
where other people have died
Oh Mackenzie, stuck in your highschool frenzy
are you a drama queen
or a methamphetamine
you dreamt you saw the ocean
for a midwestern desert mile
and i dreamt i saw you resurrected
if only for a while
and where is she mother
where's my sister
i looked over at her house
and i feel as if i've just missed her
some people keep their windows clean
with alcohol and kerosene lit fires
oh friend you look a bit tired
and others keep the cinders burning
with branch in hand and always turning slow
and with them it is never quite time to go
where is she mother where is my sister
i looked over at her house
but i feel as if i've just missed her
2.Pilgrim Hat
pilgrim hat on an indian summer
and the sickness spread like weeds with runners
and the blankets shed like timber that's
lumbering jack, jag jag jag jagged swells
and the rain heats up
but the snow won't melt
and we close our eyes
and we fight like hell
track track track track track me
my beloved is lost, soil of the sea
and the dust just prints my hands
and feet and won't lead
fossil is brittle and breaks like dishes
the old man hums and sings as he pisses
on the dirty floor
cause the bitch done break his
back back back back back back bone
so he wears a brace and lives alone
in the dirty crawl space
right outside your home
track track track track track me...
petrified wood
petrified him where he stood
and he sinks where he stands
blood in his hair and blood
through the fingers on his hand
brother threw up where he lay
Lou got stitches the very next day
come home from school to find
your sectret book has a broken spine
and your father smoking right outside
and much much much much much much later
you find pieces of your journal in his
cigarette papers
and your writing went up in
blood smoke and vapor
track track track...
3.TRUMPET
if you need a trumpet to hear
then hold that trumpet dear
up to your ear
we will try and yell
we will scream like hell
down that trumpet bell
the adults are moving slow
mid-day library matinee show
heads hanging low
let us know
what we don't quite know
your head needs
a brace to be
a cane to see
so brace your own
followed me home
sink and stone
scary street to the mall
there is Pete and there is Paul
in charge of us all
one is short and one is tall
lady making the hill state
i will i will i will...
4.IN ONE ROOM
in one room they fight to the death
with toasters pulling sparks out of walls
and telephone chords ringing
right round your neck
when Picasso called i didn't know
how to say you're not home
so i told him to just leave his name
and your mama called
your cat died
the leaves swept
and it turns out
the doctor swears you didn't
overdose you're sick from shame
pocket full of pages
but you've got nothing left to say
so why don't you take
those broken lists
and go away
the couch is sitting pretty
and you're sitting so pretty too
there is no way in hell
i'd fix this place up for you
you kick the door open
just hoping for someone
to stand there that cares
i can't say much for the masses
but i won't be there
a silhouette so gross
it made everybody sick
and still you felt the need
to talk all about it
in one room...
5.WELL SONG
i will fight with you
at the bottom of the well i will
i will come unglued from you
at the ringing of the bell ringer
and you ate the bee stinger
and my throat swelled up
here's the attic key,
nail the door shut
that will be the day...
flick off the lizards,
go around back
who's to say that i looked
who's to say that i saw
who's to say the nice guys finishing last
arn't the only ones finishing at all
that will be the day...
cut through the prairie
burn the sun flowered grass
free the chickens
drown those noisy cats
when you hear the bells ringing
etch our names in glass
roll up the window
meet me round back
shoot the horses
clean out the well
who's to say that i pushed
who's to say that we fell
who's to say these bells aren't ringing
right down for us
and that we should keep
this song to ourselves
that will be the day...
6.HYSTERICAL
and the gas light went out
and we all took our places
and we stood very still
with paralyzed faces
take down the stage
fire the narrator
went deaf and dumb the first day
he became quite hysterical
the symptoms were white hot
accompanied with white spots
in the eye, in the eye
of the storm
well we are warm
we are warm and hysterical
it is hot and unbearable
and the pipes
well they're all hissing
"when we are missed we are missing out"
and the doors they don't shut
and the smiles are fading
counted three hawks dive
in the time we were waiting
well here comes the heartbeat
those ribs they're a miracle
the harbor holds your mother
we love you hyterical
7.MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
the sandy people got freckles where the rocks lie
spit in their ear and salt in their eyes
the mountain people got voices like a rock slide
hair like honeycomb, face like a drainpipe
the emergency is on
the waves are rising the money is gone
and all we've got to do is...
the dried up desert girl
wash her face and wash her feet
and lays quite warm between two sheets
some plants that only grow
between the gravel and under the snow
and why they would die no one knows
immediacy dear, is not immediate it's only near
and all we've got to do is...
8.HIGHWAY 91
i saw you at the Vegas convention
you were touting your latest invention
TV screens to be hung on trees
and you received the highest award
for the full array of colored polos in your wardrobe
and you will know exactly which one to choose
when i unleash my hell on you
there's some kids outside screaming for murder
there's something left in a pot rotting on the burner
your living room is an empty casket
you are married to blinds too tangled to shut
your mistress is the light above the parking lot
and the dogs will still be barking at half past two
when i unleash my hell on you
there's a big plane humping the elevation
there's a hell hound loose in the station
there's a hubcap diamond star pitchfork
there's a kid in a ditch doing homework
and every single answer is the same three numbers
and you will know exactly what this proves
when i unleash my hell on you
9.TYPHOID MARY
oh, on the island of brothers
a prisoner of her veins
blood running round poison bones
runs just the same
and oh sister, that's sorrow miming pain
love so blind there is nothing to find
but much to be gained
oh Virginia i called you
to paint your wooden skys
laced your big city secrets
with small town lies
and i won't cull
the cotton from the wool
long distance call with your face to the wall
it's hard on the eyes
to look for you tonight
go back to the island of brothers
wait for your blood to turn
stale hosts mold in the corner
redeeming the dirt
oh Virginia your mind will leave you first
it's a hard rule of piss and stool
pull up the covers smile and drool
on the island of brothers
the greatest of fools crowns you
10.WIDOW
bit by a widow
but you're not the one
who got bit and then died
and dried out in the sun
woken by frogs
but you're not the one
who got woken stark crazy and
neighbored your gun
i have never done a thing like that
i'd wing a bird but i won't skin a cat
and i have never done a thing like that
a modern gunsmith with a broken bat
i have never done a thing like that...
skeleton and the sun burnt child
slept domestic and they woke up wild
dead possum in a barrel
your dog is rabid your cat went feral
they will bite you on the hand...
11.BEYOND THE BUZZARDS
beyond the buzzards
the egg will hatch
tie down the yolk
loosen the catch
ivory dust white wash the nest
we are all being reasonably mean
and i'd sell the whole lot of you sight unseen
cause i could not bare to watch you go
and oh, the bother
my saddened sparrow
they've chewed you down
to bone shards and marrow
the fractures show
as your skin grown narrow
insides thick as a feather bed
as hungry as an arrow head
he built a bow out of bamboo...