i
  always
              want
                         what
                                    i
                      ­                  had
                                 and
                       what
                     i
         cannot
  get.
        on
            the
                  hill
 ­                       the
                             grass
                                      is
                       ­                 greener
                                 and
                  sl­ippery
        when
wet.

Woke up on the cold side of
the bed again.
Lit my cigarette by the wrong end.
With decisions to weigh and debts to pay,
I dance better by myself.

Abandoned paved streets
shadowed by bright city lights;
a motionless breeze gives flight
to broken kites.
The man in the hammock dangling
by a string
stays aloft in his solitude.

In the trivial pursuit of a
worthwhile endeavor
a life neatly filed away is run
through a shredder.
Spoonfed as a child then left all
alone;
jilted like a bad penny.

Seeing through a prism of a dull
grey shade.
Bewildered at the ease of a
one-sided trade.
She built you a throne made of
leather and silk;
a throne made with only three legs.

Oriental paper cranes
and waterfalls of lemonade.

A sunshine-scented, smoky haze
covers candy-coated everglades
while whispers waltz with time and space
and raindrops roll down ceiling drains.

Sacramental epitaphs
and water streams on sassafras.

A dismal, dark decrepit path
mourning missing morning's sunlight laugh;
singing songs so sweet at last
and flying free oe'r breaking glass.

Artificial floating clocks
and water droplets burning hot.

A million, melting mountain tops
shadow somber sunken river rocks
as amber ash advances spots
and transverse travel never stops.

Walking down the street on a sunny day,
I got my ******* my arm and I feel okay.
Heading to the bank because we're leaving LA.
It's gonna be a good, good day.

Mr. Bank Teller, how you doing today?
I'll just take my cash and be on my way.
You see I got my girl and we're leaving town.
Ain't no reason to stick around.
Next thing, it happened so fast.
The door swung open with a mighty crash.
"Put your hands up high. I'm gonna need your cash.
Let's be quick and don't half-***."

Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
Please let me go.
Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
Please let me go.

"Alright everybody no need to be funny.
In this bag, you're gonna put your money
and everything that you hold dear
I'm gonna take right from you here."
Whispy clouds, sky grey-blue,
I said, 'Honey, I sure do love you.
Here's what I want you to do,
take my ring never let it stray from you.'
"Robert, my love, please don't let me go.
Let's just do as we planned and go to Mexico.
Our feet in the sand, the sun in our soul,
together you and I, we can grow old."

Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
Please let me go.
Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
Please let me go.

Suddenly I turned my back.
I took a step and made my attack.
I grabbed him by the hands, together we danced
a unfortunate dance with much less romance.
With one fell swoop, I thwarted his plot,
forced him to surrender right there on the spot.
The people around they shouted their praise
for they would get to live to see more days.

Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
You must go.
Mr. Robber, Mr. Robber
You must go.

In that moment when I looked lax,
Mr. Robber, well, he played his jack.
He reached at his leg, his finger was hot.
The people all cried when he fired that shot.
"Robert, my love, please be okay.
The police and paramedics are on their way.
The security gaurd, he got the robber.
Robert, don't go, you're going to be a father."
'Listen, my dear, I want you to hear me.
Where ever you go, that's where I will be.
Show our boy all the love that we have
and never ever let him forget his Dad.'

Dead Robert, Dead Robert
Why'd you go?
Dead Robert, Dead Robert
Don't you know?
Dead Robert, Dead Robert
Why'd you go?
Dead Robert, Dead Robert
Don't you know?

With silent tears
She begs forgiveness
From one she has never wronged.
Dressed in silver and black,
With green on the inside
She closes her eyes
Swallows her shivering soul
And clutches peace
Her beauty undiminished

Our eyes are different
our minds so similar
Hearts struck from cliffs
of porous stone
how can you change
what you are after?
At breakneck speed
it is roll or run

My guise is significant
Adaptations adequate
In founding, proscribed
By a burrowing throne
Allocated empathy
Out of arbitrary agony
The suns of our comforts
Can boil your bones

Remember the wild call.
The earth between your toes
How nature allows us
There's no wrong way without a road
Internalize those symmetries
That form a greater whole
We are each what God sought
When he swore and broke the mould

dad left
for his second tour of duty
on my third birthday

mom kept
a jar full of jelly beans
on the living room coffee table

every night
she gave me one to eat, saying
"when these jelly beans
are all eaten up,
dad will come back home"

sometimes
i would sneak another,
to help dad come home sooner

one night
the phone rang
and i watched mom
wipe away a tear
as she filled
the jar
back
up