THE PRESSURE KEEPS ME ALIVE
down. can you take it slow.
get back on the ground.
there's not enough rope.
stress. passed on like your name.
now you wake so tired.
take it. hand it down like a weight.
now you wake so tired.
take it. hand it down like a weight.
now you wake so tired.
stress. passed on like your name.
now you wake so tired.
50s DAD
try to dress like a man.
pressed. ready.
heads on the wall. think of your father's eye,
and hang your head.
never know what to say when
bad days come again.
stretched. pressed. he breathes like a dog.
stretched. pressed. heads on the wall.
boxed up, faces down.
your family looks from the landing.
bad days come again, after all.
five minutes standing.
the first thing you said.
i don't know what we'll do.
what can we do.
BEEF CATTLE
shadows will turn to holes.
dig a trench with the sun.
dilate. front to back.
sightless. front to back.
walk the race. can't see much now.
walk the race. can't hear much now.
dilate. dead ahead.
sightless. dead ahead.
sightless.
dead ahead.
CONTAINER SHIPS
red lights return and rest.
we don't know what we own.
loaded. lift to another clear sky.
make your course for home. and what do we own.
they say walls won't stand straight on their own, you know.
so wrap your son's face in rags to breathe black heat.
roll the red bars. cut on the dead gray shore.
walls won't stand straight on their own.
make your course.
steady.
CORNERSTONE
you catch your train.
you pay your way.
lay your last tickets down.
the black year burned.
the ground still warm.
you cut your names.
you paid your way.
work won't cover the past,
and the pressure won't change.
the black year burned.
the ground still warm.
you catch your train.
you pay your way.
always made to wait.
you pay your way
for longer days.
laid your tickets on the stone.
cut your names, and set it in the wall.
work won't cover the past but you tried.
you paid your way.
WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY
wrong side of history. you are there.
left all alone, pressing for air.
time is the tide we try to hold down.
head back and sinking.
clench your fists. let your fingers carve holes in your hands, and invent.
clench your fists. let your fingers carve holes in your hands.
trust me, we'll all die alone.
no one will notice or know.
wrong side of history. we are already there.
we're quietly sinking.
clench your fists. let your fingers carve holes in your hands, and invent.
clench your fists. let your fingers carve holes in your hands.
YOU DON'T HAVE CANCER
don't choke.
we'll start again.
can you feel it now. can you breathe.
can you try to make a sound.
start well, or start again.
head to ground, try again.
but the wrong things change. can you feel it now.
like lighted wire, your fibers still glow.
don't choke.
look ahead. even though you know.
swallow the light. you're doing fine.
even though you know.
wrong. change. start again.
wait. look, even though you know.
wrong. start again. wait.
wait. look, even though you know.
don't choke.
sing us a song.
light and wire.
sing us a song, even though you know.