sing
I threw a rock down a hill and it rolled
the rolling symbolized things that had already passed
I asked you what you know
you said boy you've got a long way to go
now I'm a pen that ran out of ink
perusing a library ten years later,
and starting to realize that it's all been said
spread around in bits and pieces yes
but all in all it's there, whatever it is, it's already there
then I changed my mind
history, are you coming around?
the floor is opening up and people are coming out,
chanting things in a language I can't understand
anger, I remember there was lots of anger,
and they put it in their songs
lyrics about demigods and dog days
and ex-boyfriends they were all angry
Wednesday, but I don't know what that means
a block of cement is wondering who can escape their mental cage
I painted my face
I drank several beers
I played the cello in the graveyard,
and learned something there that I had never known:
that everything's a cutout, a decoration,
and you can paste it wherever you want
it makes art, it makes life,
but we've forgotten how to care
how long do we have to play this game?
wear a suit, drive the speed limit,
plead the fifth on the sixth at noon
I'm spinning and spinning and you're worried about winning
apples grow on trees
are they gonna change that too?
we ask, but they all just point fingers
long fingers that keep on growing
and I start to think I'm being led in circles
circles are things that cannot be explained
but squares are easy as fuck
sometimes feel like I'm a sitting duck
hiding in the underbrush, hiding from the guns
hello frog, I said; it didn't say anything back
not even ribbit; I expected at least a ribbit
I mean that's what I learned when I was young anyway,
that frogs say ribbit and sheep say baa
I mean I mean I mean I mean I eat I drink I wait I run I live I think do I pray?
I draw I dream I sit and smoke and smoke and never feel clean
rocks grow moss, grass grows green
this world is boiling and I am the steam
your eyes they gleam from the sun off the snow
it's winter and I'm not content, but in the spring I'll grow
my natural habitat is a padded room and a straight jacket
or at least that's where I'll end up if I can't learn to hack it
a hundred billion stars shine at night
a hundred billion people who can't get it right
a hundred billion times I've thought the same thing
this world needs to open its mouth and sing
~
2003