ABSOLUTE MUSIC
Brain dead woman,

should have worn your seatbelt
— always said California
was the perfect climate for vegetables

Premonitions of a violent death
Daydreams of a private garden
— I don’t think so —
Wanted to sound like

an American girl

Twiggy little Russian
Working on your accent
The first one to stand up
To Madame La Touch
Five Foot Three
With just you stockings on
You said you’d rather die
In an automobile
Than in the choke hold
Of some vicious animal
— there goes another one
To the freeway

Toothy little Russian twig
Always asking how it sounds
When you say this or that
Well it sounded to me
Like absolute music

It was absolute music to my ears

Toothy little Russian twig
Took a hunk of flesh
Out of Regular Jim’s neck
They said you only missed
The artery by a thread

Then who showed up
But me and Josie and Jim:
The madam, the crybaby and the comedian —
How’d the doctor like that
For your next of kin?

Yes I will never forget
When the doctor walked in
Said he was going to take
You off the breathing machine
— it was absolute music to my ears

It was absolute music
To my ears

It was absolute music

THREE SISTERS
Three sisters,
three poisons in my mind
You can put it down on paper
But some filth won’t transcribe

Why am I contriving stratagems
To live so unhappily?
I perceive the sleep of winter
In what the dream
wants you to know
Like tracking blood red footprints
In the snow
And bringing that home

Beauty blisters
Summer pops the paradise
You can put it down on paper
But some truths won’t transcribe

Why am I contriving stratagems
To live so unhappily?

I perceive the sleep of winter
In what the dream wants you to know
Like tracking blood red footprints
In the snow
And bringing that home

I think I’ll miss her
I think I’ll miss her the most
You can put it down on paper
But some loves don’t transcribe

Why am I contriving stratagems
To live so unhappily?

I perceive the sleep of winter
In what the dream wants you to know
Like tracking blood red footprints
In the snow
And bringing that home

And then
Bringing that home

BUNGALOW 6
In Alpine air, mouthing a Havana
OK, fine — life is more
Than beautiful girls and fistfights

I had a few good days
Back in 2005
They are still getting me by

Picking up call girls
And dropping lots of acid
Collecting bugs and butterflies
Looking up the galaxies in me
No one will ever find

Today I controlled myself
Up until 3:45
Then I let the script decide

In the bungalow
Smashing every sales call
Scratching my mosquito bites
Staring my vision of ruin
Into the canvas all night

I was playing a role
I was playing to type
I was scribbling
on a prescription pad
Up shit river with a poem, man
And then some

I was living in the jail
Of the power I feel
Intellectual, cultural life
Acting class on Thursdays at nine

Picasso, Einstein, Jesus Christ —
Those were just phases in my life
A way to tell time
A way to tell time

I was playing a role
I was playing to type
I was scribbling
on a prescription pad
Up shit river with a poem, man
And then some

I was living in the jail
Of the power I feel
Intellectual, cultural life
Acting class on Thursdays at 9

A way to tell time
A way to tell time

GIST OF MORNING

Well there’s something
In this climate
That brings the bones
Out of my face

You may pick up my reflection
In a cold plate

I used to entertain
Now I don’t do anything

I was standing
In the careful reconstruction
Of the whole outdoors
So I cared very little
When they punched
My passport

Oh to sigh and speak
In the thick of things
Albeit unawares
Of what the safari
Was asking

Oh to sigh and speak
And to listen to the leaks
To eat the baguette
In one sitting

There’s something
In this climate
That brings the bones
Out of my face
The bones out of my face
The bones out of my face

My correspondence
Was doggedly sincere
A long sea voyage
Tends to do that to you dear

Cloud formations
Above the actual spot
I am sending the flowers
I dragged my brain across
A lifeless ocean

There’s something
In this climate
That brings the bones
Out of my face

You may pick up my reflection
In a cold plate

I use to entertain
Now I don’t do anything

I feel it is my business
To say so
The deep kiss administered
And the bill of goods sold

They crush you
When they want you to happen
You feel your feet in your shoes
And the mist
Of a traveled to fountain

There’s something
In this climate
That brings the bones
Out of my face
The bones out of my face
The bones out of my face

Today I should be bold and wise
Unless I’ve done my sums wrong
And then it’s back to the drawing board
Where it’s shorts weather
Whether it’s shorts weather or not

And you nearly get
the gist of morning
Because the oxygen’s sharp

Yeah, you really get the gist of morning
Because the oxygen’s sharp

ACAPULCO
Watching cop shows
On a stripped mattress
Throwing quarters into a pint glass

I promised I’d come after you
When I was a boy I had no handle
Now I’m pulled like luggage
Through subways and puddles
And they won’t stop pulling
Until I bruise the ankles
Of the world

I’ve shattered the mirrors of Loraine

My granddad had an Acapulco fridge magnet
An ashtray full of seashells and sand
He stayed in the hotel of John Wayne

I’ve shattered the mirrors of Loraine

When I was a kid I stole a gold watch
Just to feel eyes on me
When I was a kid I swung from birch trees
Just to feel for a time that it could be

There is no such thing
There’s no such thing
As making a life of it

I’ve shattered the mirrors of Loraine

With the grace of a cliff diver
The night plunged into you
With th knowledge of a taxi driver
I know that it takes
Most of us a lot of waiting around

I promised I’d come after you
When I was a boy I had no handle
Now I’m pulled like luggage
Through subways and puddles
And they won’t stop pulling
Until I bruise the ankles
Of the world

I asked my granddad what it’s like
To have the apple plucked from your eye
— What is death like?
He said it’s like Acapulco

I asked my granddad what it was like
To have the apple plucked from your eye
— Granddad, what is death like?
I bet it’s like Acapulco

FOOL AROUND

I can’t make a wrong turn
Besides — I’m heading back
To where those two paths intertwine

I can’t hold on to the space
I’ve occupied —
I ran the clock out
While I was trying to decide

I don’t care if I do
Make a fool of myself
I like to fool around

What kind of bargain
Did you think that we might strike?
I don’t believe in choosing between
Two lives

You want it all so desperately
I’m back to zero, rejuvenating —
That’s right

I don’t care if I do
Make a fool of myself
I like to fool around

I’ll believe who
You tell me you are
If you don’t believe
What they say about me

I know I came on
Like a man with a plan
But you can’t piss twice
In one stream

I don’t care if I do
Make a fool of myself
I like to fool around