north avenue blue

eyes closed to the paper, she hears the sounds of north avenue
and the rumble-hum of the el
autum's coming on slowly, she can smell it at night
while she's waiting for something but can't say what

she's as lost as she is lost, looking for her reflection
or the mumbled sound of hello
another sad coming on slowly, deep indigo blue
while she's waiting for someone but can't say who

could it be that someone is waiting around the next corner
or is it just the city wind reaching out its hand
maybe she's just looking for comfort that's less that illusion
if she just knew what do to
to chase away this north avenue blue

cool skin in the morning, a yellow flower in her livingroom
and a quiet breakfast for one
another year's come and gone slowly and beginings have ends
while she's waiting for someday but can't say when

the spring of my content

why not try a something sweet - some summer heat
a brush with lust or a heart-thump giddy?
oh make me ache - oh make me laugh, yes

see the glass as overflowing - it's a big mess
your lips, my lips all grinning goodness
oh i tingle - we entangle, yes

what wicked spell am i now under
and what's this power in my blood?
the magnolias bloomed not a minute too soon
makes me hungry, i must be crazy to do it

muscles flex and legs stretch when this way i'm walking
jump the fence with no regrets. go one way, go this way, yes.

it's the spring of my content - that's what i meant
and what a gift this hour is
i'd like to spend it all in one place, yes

have my cake and eat it too, ice cream on the side
oh sweet suprise, you feed my mind
but shall we have our dessert first? yes

to quell the beast and softly sleep so unencumbered
to boldly leap, to chance defeat. go one way, go this way, yes.

come into my garden

i want to be april - warm up slowly
a little rain, a little thunder
pretty soon everything's blooming

come into my garden
come gather my rosebuds while ye may

i want to be july - steamy and stormy
sweaty lip, hip grind
hot days that last all night

i want to be october - colors redden
gourds ripen and hang heavy
sweet and juicy for the harvest

take some time in january
you don't have to be so cold
think of all the ways you can melt some ice
or light a fire
or stay inside where it's warmer

if you knew me

the offset click of clock and drip the blind approach of fall
in howling wind the streetlights spin shadow branches on the wall
oh if you knew me at all

a vacant light across the night an open window's glow
the long debate of hope and fate to settle or lightly go
to settle or lightly go

trouble is i've let it come to this
paralyzed by fear, still i cling
what am i safe from here?

afraid to fail i've built a jail around my heart's true calling
and turn to face the damp embrace of this grey night falling
oh if you knew me at all
for every breath brings love and death in greater concentration
the moon, the rain, and soon the train unto it's destination
unto it's destination

how can you stand to sit idly by while your life passes by?
ask yourself this on a night like tonight when you don't feel young anymore
if you heard what i heard, i wolf howling in the city zoo
and you understood that
well then you'd understand me too

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bunkbed nights

i kissed you in a picture when we were three years old
an innocent chance for the child-me to take
on a clear summer's day, hearing bullfrogs in the cattails
at your family's cabin on the lake

but adolescence brought me self-conscious desperation
that made all my emotions burn with shame
so i pretended not to notice you in the morning over froot-loops
though i loved you pure and secret just the same

bunkbed nights i'd watch your blanket rise and fall with every sleeping breath
bunkbed nights i'd lie awake and dream of the impression that you left
the impression that you left on me

now two decades have passed and i'm back here at the lakehouse
you're in another state, asleep with your wife
our picture rests in a yellowed photo album
and i am in your bunkbed for the first time in my life

there's a loon calling 'cross the minnesota waters singing
"nothing's changing, you're just getting older"
from the moon is falling crystal bits of a reflection of eternal yearning and a hunger burning

bunkbed nights i'd watch your blanket rise and fall with every sleeping breath
bunkbed nights and here i am after all these years in the impression that you left
the impression that you left on me

the lamp in the corner

the lamp in the corner is doing the best that it can
to shed light on the darkest of places, the heart of a man
whose words are like clover, scattered all over the ground
and i find i'm missing him even when he's still around

time has been passing yet everything still feels the same
the trees and the rooftops and the sidewalks still covered with rain
and grey skies at morning bring no sailor's warning to show
which way is happiness, which way is something unknown.

i have been dreaming of nothing but birds in the air
while his morningtime pile of feathers say life isn't fair
in the distance between us nothing is seen of the light
of the lamp in the corner, fighting the darkness tonight.

blue shadows

blue shadows on the snow - ten years since i let you go
trees line the cloudless sky - ten years since i said goodbye

the road is always, the cold is always sad and beautiful
the road goes on and i'm no closer than i've ever been

diamond lights in daytime glow - ten years since i let you go
birds southward need to fly - ten years since i said goodbye

blue shadows, don't you know, line the sunny winter's snow
diamond lights in daytime glow - on and on and on we go

i believe

well what do you think of that? i'm still falling, falling from you but i'm alive
and i believe that every bit of brick and bone and wood and stone is you
and i believe that everything will be just fine when i find the time to think of it

sometimes all you need
sometimes all you need
sometimes all you need is to trust the wall that you're falling from

don't want to write you a letter do i have to spell it out for you in rhythm and in rhyme
that you have been the sun the rain the healthy ground for me to grow strong
and you have made my warmest bed and my coldest night so many times

it's okay to find a way to forget it way to forget it all
just try to remember the best part about it came right before the fall

oral surgeon

got a dry socket, your prescription's in my pocket
but there's one thing that i've never understood
you cause me pain but promise novocaine
and you tell me it's for my own good

yes i guess this is urgent
i'm in love, i'm in love, i'm in love with my oral surgeon

does my panoramic x-ray give my secret away
and can you read between my gums
if you give me anesthesia i'll do anything to please 'ya
don't you know that you're my only one?

i've really given you a piece of me this time
but there's something that i want to arrange
now that you've taken out my wisdom teeth
won't you take me out for a change?

we've got a better future than my dissolving sutures
my dental deductible is full
and the only complication in my infatuation
is that you keep sending me the bill