"Song For Kelly Huckaby"

Photographs of the best time you had,
windows smugded by the speed.
Leaving home with our bags from Iron Street,
as morning turned into California,
And smoke trailed from the butt of my cigarette.
Our glass house it threw rocks at all those it past.

Waking up to the sound of 5 A.M. to take my turn at the wheel.
Climbed up Shasta, oh how the engine ached
as the sun tortured California,
and old alleys turned deep at the heart of me.
Murals of heros defacing the blank concrete.

Vision tunneled, Mission Street, hunger beat
lodged out as the engine wheezed.
Still moving regardless of stable ground
and this stable ground.

Photographs of the best time you had,
windows smugded by the speed.
Leaving home with our bags from Iron street
as morning turned into California.

"Soul Meets Body"

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

And I cannot guess what we'll discover
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body
Where soul meets body

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

"Stability"

Time for the final bout.
Rows of deserted houses..
All our stable mates are highway bound.
Give us our measly sum:
Getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly.
We're starting out with nothing but crippling doubt.

We'll rest easy (justified).
I've suffered a swift defeat.
I'll endure countless repeats.
The gift of memory is an awful curse,
with age it just gets much worse,
But I won't mind.

I won't mind..
I won't mind..
I won't mind..

"Stable Song"

Time for the final bout
Rows of deserted houses
All our stable mates highway bound
Give us our measly sum
Getting the air inside my lungs is heavenly
Starting out with nothing but crippling doubt
We'll rest easy justified
Suffered a swift defeat, i'll endure countless repeats
The gift of memory is an awful curse
With age it just gets much worse, but i won't mind
I won't mind
I won't mind
I won't mind

"State Street Residential"

Holding fast until the rent checks wear thin
because it hasn't sunk in... so far.

Well it's a drab routine, the dust starts building
until it's hard to come clean.

Then the months stack up to an addict crutch
As if the drink weren't enough
A stagger cannot compete
There's no charm in being residential state street

And if I was sober
could I kill caution and stay over
And if I was sober
would I rip hearts apart like paper?

I wish you could know better than you show
with parted lips pointed down
That the whiskey soothes more than you could ever do.

And if I was sober
Could I kill caution and stay over?
And if I was sober
Would I rip hearts apart like paper?

What a difference it made
What a difference it made

And if I was sober
Could I kill caution and stay over?
And if I was sober
Would I rip hearts apart like paper?

What a difference it made
What a difference it made

"Steadier Footing"

It's gotten late and now i want to be alone
All of our friends were here, they all have gone home
And here i sit on the front porch watching the drunks stumble forth into the night
"you gave me a heart attack; i did not see you there. i thought you had disappeared so early away from here."
And this is the chance I never got to make a move.
But we just talk about the people we've met in the last 5 years.
And will remember them in ten more?
I let you bum a smoke, you quit this winter past.
I've tried twice before but like this, it just will not last.

"Styrofoam Plates"

There's a saltwater film on the jar of your ashes... i threw them to sea but a gust blew them backwards and the sting in my eyes
That you then inflicted was par for the course just as when you were living.

It's no stretch to say you were not quite a father but a donor of seeds to a poor single mother that would raise us alone, we never saw the money that went down your throat
Through the hole in your belly.

Thirteen years old in the suburbs of denver
Standing in line for Thanksgiving dinner at the catholic church. the servers wore crosses
To shield from the sufferance plauging the others. styrofoam plates, cafateria tables charity reeks of cheap wine and pity
And i'm thinking of you. i do every year
When we count all our blessings
And wonder what we're doing here.

You're a disgrace to the concept of family
The priest won't divulge that fact in his homily and i'll stand up and scream
If the mourning remain quiet, you can deck out a lie in a suit but i won't buy it.
I won't join in the procession that's speaking their peace. using five dollar words while praising his integrity. and just cause he's gone it doesn't change the fact... he was a bastard in life thus a bastard in death.

"Summer Skin"

Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water's warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin

I don't recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin

On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn't win
Cause the seasons change was a conduit
And we left our love in our summer skin

"Talking Bird"

Oh, my talking bird
Though you know so few words
They're on infinite repeat
Like your brain can't keep up with your beak.

And you're kept in an open cage
So you're free to leave or stay.
Sometimes you get confused
Like there's a hint I am trying to give you.

The longer you think, the less you know what to do.

It's hard to see your way out
When you live in a house in a house
Cause you don't realize
That the windows were open the whole time.

Oh, my talking bird
Though your feathers are tattered and furled
I'll love you all your days
Till the breath leaves your delicate face.

It's all here for you as long as your choose to stay.
It's all here for you as long as you don't fly away.

"Technicolor Girls"

Technicolor girls are always on the phone
talking about their homes
and the conversations continue endlessly.

Technicolor boys, transistor radios
blasting their treble tones
and the arguments are disputed after school,
in the parking lot as the teachers bend the rules.

Patiently you waited for a courting boy's embrace,
then everyone would know.
But the letter jacket wasn't yours to own
and it proves to be on temporary loan.

And as they all grow older the truth will be understood,
cause we never turn out the way we thought we would.