Television Soundtrack

Watching the pictures on TV
going out with no sound,
life illustrated so clearly- 
these are my most private moments
I am sitting on a plane,
I wish I had the window seat,
this moment so turbulent- I know
it is certain death.

Next to you again,
told you i had my fortune read,
and was told again and again
that the world does not move fast enough 
to hide its flaws

Riding through the city
all day with no direction,
stuck with these people
in the middle of their conversations
The least comfortable seat
trite bullshit scraping the chalkboard- 
they should fucking take me home
if they want to do me favors
why don't you do me a favor?

I watched it happen,
doors that closed behind them
Is this your intimacy,
or the shit you dragged behind you? 
Did your world move fast enough
to keep your shit from dragging the ground?

The world does not move
fast enough to hide its flaws

MM 2001 (revised 5/2017)

Porch Lookout

It's crazy like a dingo
Restless feeling just creeping along
Up from the bottoms of my feet
Light up and take heed
Just another excuse to go outside,
the frames and foundations.

Drive yourself like a truck
over the edge into the deep
Inhale... exhale... 
Breath dissipates

Fading like existence... 
Feeling like bionic... 
Stuck inside 
Wondering into vapors... 
Clouds of desperate measures... 
Crossing lines

It's crazy like a desert,
only chilling dry and frigid
Up from the bottom of your lungs
and blown away
Just a second excuse to go outside,
clinching and crawling

Fading like existence...

MM 1998

(artwork by Bob Rob)

Impurities

A mystery is abound
I was never accustomed to... 
I had never spoken of... 
Have you ever just walked away?

I had never seen those faces
They whispered in the receiver
They sang you to sleep
They were featured in my dreams

I found a key in my pocket
The door to heaven swung
off its hinges it fell
into a hole in the ground
I threw dust in the sky
It scattered out far and wide
Its soil filtered in the water of my eyes

Take a vow of silence
if your words betray you
The better thoughts and moments sit
idle with your time
and motion sifts away impurities

(artwork by Bob Rob)

MM 1998

Halfway Around The World

You're sitting on a plane,
your eyes are on the ocean
I'm wondering what you're thinking
I'm wondering where you're going
Halfway around the world,
is that would it would have taken
for you to figure out
if you could still love me?

I couldn't go there with you.

You're sitting on a plane,
your eyes are on the landscape
Landscapes of time and space
rose up to stand between us
I could cover my eyes and ears,
but its promise was clear
I could see you running
halfway around the world

I couldn't go there with you.

I couldn't have imagined
pushing you away
It couldn't have been scripted
with such a sudden end
I couldn't stop the bleeding
just begging for forgiveness
I couldn't have imagined
losing my best friend

I couldn't go there with you.

(artwork by Bob Rob)

MM 1998

Prodigal Girl

Crushed like a soda can 
Can this lifeline recycle itself 
to the fullest straight and narrow? 
There’s no time like tomorrow 
to make it like today 
I kick a rock down a road, 
I throw a stone into a stream, 
to dream of less important things 

I wake up screaming 
Kick yourself for sleeping in 
through the re-ignition moment 
Until the planets realign, 
the sun and I will bide our time 
It moves on anyway, 
regarding regardless of what to say 
about the wrenching wait 

The prodigal girl was led astray 
Her words ring so true  
if only to get back at you 
for losing a grip, sanity 
I’ve got it sinking in, 
its warmth is a blanket 
to the greatest of the Great God’s 
air-conditioning vent

MM 1998

(Artwork by Bob Rob)

Joyous & Tragic

Mark steady with trembling hands
X's across the calendar
Count up the days I thee wed
You've stumbled across your balance
Scratch away the cold secrets
Loving with paper and pencil
Reaching the most quiet resolve

You have passed a failing test
I was bound to bleed the rest.

Your voice sounds like it's right next door
I can envision you right around
Cold kissing with sweat in vacant air
I can still remember you right here
Count up the days with numbers
It's the strangest kind of loneliness
Counting with quiet resolve

Airports are both joyous and tragic
They make the sweat fall from my palms
That day I woke up beside you
Today I am living inside the phone
Your eyes are the stars across my dreams
If they would fall just for me
I might well be the one

MM 1999

(Artwork by Bob Rob)

Right Out or Right On

See closing doors are open
Hear open doors slam shut
I'm either left on or left out
I'm either right out or right on
      You could be either one

Revolving circles of understanding
A moment on a moment off
The cuff I'm clinging onto,
a downward funnel inward
      If you could relate to

The shovel use is digging
your way out your way in
Not inherently anything,
it's just another instrument
      I am the musician

Open doors to let control out
The harbors burdened some
Seeking out and seeking in
Spinning spools do come undone
      I am the other

MM 1998

(artwork by Bob Rob)