sipping cocktails in a dark corner… lit with cigarettes and neon we edged ourselves closer to the end of our stools to the end of our drinks

long begrimed with dust a floor looking for a broom love me for my scuffs

i looked to my right hoping to see a bass player keeping the low end tight behind me hoping to see someone

we all trip over our own comfort and wherever we land is the lie we build a home on whatever love is we only do it when we have to

i walk like an appetizer onto the moonlight tongue the wine is in my blood

for wars not fought and battles not waged axes that fell from the hands of warriors

on a night back in 1998 at the 24 hour Happy Chef diner in Fort Dodge, Iowa when both of us were drunk and stoned

regret of the clock once wanted to be a watch even time gets lost

so close to travels rocks along the railroad tracks never board the train

the fast foot of gloom quick through labyrinths of joy always catches up

though it takes a daily muster of all you got empties you out and leaves you wanting

with a heart that aches to say the… let them sled over my lips know the peace of their meaning it’s been a long time since i last… i miss saying them

joyless carnival merry-go-rounds of a troubled mind the amusement of fright and despair

i am my own ghost i am haunted

and death is spreading through the… violets are blue and the zombie in the mirror is me when the bones start