Tears

I dont cry because I'm lying
I cry because you dont listen
I cry because you dont care that I'm crying
Or why
You punish
for this involuntary function of sadness
And its not fair
And I keep it all in
But one of these days I'm going to crack and tell you all the things about which I've held my tongue for the past thirteen years
Listen.
Have I ever lied?
Not counting all the times you only think I'm lying?
The answer is no.
You dont see why I dont feel comfortable telling you things
Its because Im afraid
And thats not right
I shouldn't feel this way
We should be close.
Listen for the sound of the sobs of your child
And take the time to care why they are occurring.

Chemical Properties

These papers, man
Lets burn all these papers
Cuz paper
ya paper is
flam-a-ble
paper can burn
so lets burn it
and watch it
lets watch it disintegrate
crumbling
crackling
hating and we spitting

and growing and growing

til we all burn, man

lets all burn, man

hey look how much we can do

let's burn those paperes

Loose Change

On my dresser
Ya my dresser
Lies a crinkled
dollar
bill
dollar
bob
dollar
fred
some change, too
some change would be good
and it jingle jingles in your
po-cket
change change
burns a hole
they say
in your pocket
well change
change change
burns a hole in my heart
ba-boom
ba-boom
boom-ba-doom
But if I let the festering flesh heal over
and keep burning and
burning again
the fire
the heat
the breathing
the coughing
the pain
is the life
that we've made
and we're all so sweet smiles
in our hot burning pain
we lie and we slap
and hey
we can walk, too,
ya hey, we can walk...
and we can cook and
we can sing and write
and play and work
so hey, put us to work cuz you can
but we can't do one thing
just one.
we can't live

We can so we should

in school ya they're all so intent on the numbers
the numbers
the numbers
they should just teach the words
the words
and what they mean mean
because we're dying and killing and crying and thrilling
their response is lets teach them some more about the
nuclear weapons
the chemicals chemicals
the blooooooodshed
the horrors
lets leave the creative stuff to the
weirdos the weirdos
we'll fund all the microscopes
we'll fund all the cal-cu-lators
we'll fund all the bombs
we'll fund the machines ya
we'll breed all the monsters
ya we'll do that
lets do that
we'll do that
because we can

The Gift

I dont want to
she says
pppplease
please
she doesnt
she said so
she'd rather stay
home
herself
comfortable
sheltered
she'd rather cheat
than to recieve the gift of life
the test of life
the test
that we are tested on
that is lalalalallaalifeeeeee
is a gift
ever
REALLY
a gift??? (she added fervently, well why dont you tell us all why not, then)
and to herself (she murmered, I will. You'll see at the end)
Because herself was the one asking
and herself was the one answering as well
she wouldve asked someone else
but
no
she wouldve had a deep conversation, yes
she would have
yes
but
she wanted to see what her own mind held
before
daring to even bother with others
yes
it would be better
much better
better
to first ask herself
this question..... (what was the question?)
but was it
was it indeed a gift?????????
(BLASPHEMY!!!!)
no
it is called
thought
blasphemy is what the afraid call an open mind
yes
this is true
she said so
she pondered
no gift is ever really a gift
unless------ the definition of gift changed with the first ponderance
(is that a word well i dont care if it isnt so you will have to deal with it)
but no
because gifts only ruin (she said with gusto to herself)
gifts spoil and ruin, thats all they do (herself said matter of factly to herself)----
But then (her other self retorted)
what about BABIES??????
babies are gifts
love is a gift
life is a gift (is it)
do babies and love
do they spoil people
(WELL DO THEY???)
no
so
the
honest
answer
is
of course
honest

Lady Liberty

Hood pulled over head
You slouch across the street
The sound of cars horns blaring
A resonating beat.

It worms itself into your heart
And makes you want to scream
For mercy, justice, happiness,
A chance to live your dream.

The picture slowly fades
Of joy and parity
Until you’re just left standing
Left standing there to see

The vile, wretched mess we’ve made
Of Lady Liberty
Those stars and stripes have changed to strife
And sad despondency

What used to be a Yankee
Is now just called a hood
Left wandering till midnight
For a chance to be understood

How could we let it come to this?
We fought a bloody war
To end unfairness, hunger, wrong
We suffered, and what for?

Perhaps those scars will never heal
Perhaps that’s part of living
But part of you will always wonder
How much is slowly giving

Until we collapse?

Counting Blessings

Life is nothing without friends
Friends
Who know you and care about you
The kind you dont deserve
Friends
The kind that understand you and can talk to you for hours
And are too nice for their own good
Friends
The kind that can make you feel amazing or make you want to slap them
Or just tell them that you're not the only one who has a problem with them
Or the kind that are just going to be great and beautiful people that make you feel priveledged to be chosen as their friend
But dont even know you think that, which is of course the best part
Friends who gossip with you about people with whom they gossip about you
But it doesnt matter because you're such good friends
Friends, the kind who roll their eyes and dont listen but then ask you why you never tell them what goes on in your life....
Its because they're too caught up in themselves to listen or care or see your side
Friends whose little sisters like to be given piggyback rides
Friends whose little brothers are pretty cool
Friends who are guys and act like they're cool to impress you half the time and the other half pretty much forget you're a girl
But can always listen to anything you feel like blabbering to them and still like you because girls just blabber and it cant be helped
Friends who dont know you're their friends
Friends by coincidence
People you thought were more than friends but in fact you actually didnt like them that way
And once you realized that and got over all your jealousy and shakiness around them turned out to be great guy friends
Friends who bake and read and are kick butt athletes and friends who are really just your family
Friends who sunbathe with you on driveways and make crazy jokes in hot tubs at 10pm
Who you've spent more time with than your parents all summer
Friends who play tennis with you and then jump in the pool and then lay on the deck and eat pretzels
Friends with whom everything is funnier on the ride home
Or at 2am
Friends who annoy the crap out of you
Friends who you could spend all week with and be completely sick of but still somehow want to spend more time with
Friends who do everything with you
Friends that have made you unable to think of what to do when they are not home
And in fact, just drove in their black Kia Sportage, up their driveway
So I'm going to go now
Friends, all of whom make life worthwhile