You Invented

what worlds have you invented?
warned off the words because
they explain too much
in a world created to numb
and a right hand suspended
and left finger to wave in the face
of anyone, to question your world
we all have gathered
to rip, limb from limb
the hate and suspense
and negative actions and nonsense
because it's all consuming
and desperate to compare
what is in your head
or what is in your hair

what weapons have you invented?
it's so violent, at least as words go
the breathing is too slow
and the anxiety is high
it maybe takes several beats
to downward trajectory
one - two - three - four 
and to a knee one goes
and then onto two knees
self formatted in submission
under weapons, once invented
will bring on the end of you
and everyone around you
and all for what?
victory, humility and happiness

The Ramones - I Remember You

I remember you
I remember lying awake at night 
and thinking just of you
But things don't last forever
and somehow baby
They never really do
They never really do

Pulse Electric

when you've written down
your pulse electric dance frown
and by the shear force of will
it took to put it on paper
it's spilling wine and face of spite
the wind moves in slowly
to push out the haze of day
with three things to say
you say "electric" with red teeth
you say "dormant" with volume
you say "goodbye" without ease
and I say with a bridged face
'I wish you would come home to me'

Most People Are Half People

when you're slightly off
quite psychically shooting things
off and out of your head
a slight of hand instead
there are thoughts, though dark
that deserve out
the other, one way
surrounded by trash
still spinning it pretty
but it's a mess you can't
even understand
and most people
are half people
and half men
are half a man
made up of mud
or some other pointless shit
and most people are of one mind
made up of selfishness
or ignorance or arrogance
or some combination
no one can fathom
making it more a mess
of a mind no one can find
it takes a big man
not to feel pity

Untitled (Happy Homes)

happy mountain mounds
a grin the weight of pounds
when walking backwards
remember there is no destination
it doesn't matter
which way to walk
and happiness breaths out
tickles little toes
and there it goes
but there were
moments you owned
so own them
and then let them go
because happy homes
if together or alone
will stand

PJ Harvey – The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore

Speak to me of universal laws
The whores hustle and the hustlers whore
All around me people bleed
Speak to me your song of greed

Speak to me of your inner charm
Of how you'll keep me safe from harm
I don't think so, I don't see
Speak to me of your inner peace

Little people at the amusement park
City people in the dark
Speak to us, send us a sign
Tell us something to keep us trying

The whores hustle and the hustlers whore
Too many people out of love
The whores hustler and the hustlers whore
This city's ripped right to the core

Speak to me of heroin and speed
Of genocide and suicide, of syphilis and greed
Speak to me the language of love
The language of violence, the language of the heart
This isn't the first time I've asked for money or love
Heaven and earth don't ever mean enough
Speak to me of heroin and speed
Just give me something I can believe

The whores hustle and the hustlers whore
Too many people out of love
The whores hustler and the hustlers whore
This city's ripped right to the core

The Kinks - People Take Pictures Of Each Other

People take pictures of the Summer,
Just in case someone thought they had missed it,
And to proved that it really existed.
Fathers take pictures of the mothers,
And the sisters take pictures of brothers,
Just to show that they love one another. 

You can't picture love that you took from me,
When we were young and the world was free.
Pictures of things as they used to be,
Don't show me no more, please. 

People take pictures of each other,
Just to prove that they really existed,
Just to prove that they really existed.
People take pictures of each other,
And the moment to last them for ever,
Of the time when they mattered to someone. 

People take pictures of the Summer,
Just in case someone thought they had missed it,
Just to proved that it really existed.
People take pictures of each other,
And the moment to last them for ever,
Of the time when they mattered to someone. 

Picture of me when I was just three,
Sucking my thumb by the old oak tree.
Oh how I love things as they used to be,
Don't show me no more, please.

Your Fucking Name

this is finally dead
abrupt silence shed
so fair is it?
so bleeding it is
dump a tear
in a bucket
dump a man in the
back room
that's painted blue
fuck you
and fuck you too
and fuck everyone
that told you different
this sound is dead
a quiet movement
over lips that squeak
shit instead of a word
absurd foundries
your arms as wings
fly out far, sweet thing
and forget your fucking name

Sailor

I'm a sailor at sea
and they are all mermaids
just out of reach

You Are Welcome

study in fields
a horse shit parade
glad you were invited
glad you didn't come
when you come back dove
and are pure as anything
roots dirty hands
and dirt dirties knees
place your hands in mine
and close your eyes to see
you are welcome
you are welcome
farm still nighttime
a little home in dust
yellow walls white trim
hair cut straight
across the brim
brows all uptight
a look that stills
do hands understand
that the callus mean work?
or dirt comes late
it comes uninvited
you are welcome
you are welcome

The National - Without Permission

Oh, well I just don't know how you could go without permission
Cause, well, if you're not there I just don't care for this omission

Every moment brings me down, when you're not around
But all I'm asking for is come back for just one day

So, where did you go?
And do you now know how to be happy?
See, well it's pretty clear, when you're not near me I am unhappy

Every moment brings me down, when you're not around
But all I'm asking for is come back for just one day
And make it worth the while, just to see your smile
That's all I'm asking for

Oh, I've come to know you had to go without permission
Cause it was how, how I wore you down
And how I dragged you round my sole ambition

Every moment brings me down, when you're not around
But all I'm asking for is come back for just one day
And make it worth the while, just to see your smile
That's all I'm asking for, my dear..

Prophet Layers And Naysayers

a short doom is seen
from you to me
in a wordless beam
oh prophet layers and naysayers
to whom love is a dream
say what you will
but it's a bigger pill
that only the lonely
have left to swallow
and from white celled windows
and ground torn in two
from me to you
the soft spokeness
scares a few
but comforts others
take a thing
and sort that thing
into things you sing
and forget to bother
it really doesn't matter

Seclusion

racking on case letting
bury my head in your lap
you go blue so blue
but to you fowl tongued
is only one version of you

slam sighted but short
short enough to see under
but not short enough to lie
and you say goodbye
shocked into seclusion

caress your knees
water to the seas
and your body to the wind
let's just say this:
you begin again

tear up a eye and cheek
wear a tattoo you speak
my blue eyes are bright
and spoken a version
it's wrong and right

The Cramps - Love Me

Aahh, uhh, let's go!

Press your lips to mine
And whisper I love you
Gotta have a chance that lasts
We've got a lot to do
Don't hesitate
I can't wait

Love me

You set my soul on fire
Every muscle in my body's burning with desire
Baby kiss me do
Make me know you're mine
Love me with desire
Oh honey, this is fine
Don't hesitate, I can't wait

Love me

You set my soul on fire
Every muscle in my body's burning with desire

Pulses are beatin' in my heart
Pulses are runnin' wild
Got to make you mine
But we've got such a little while
Don't hesitate, I can't wait

Love me
Love me
Love me
Love me

The Politics Of This Party

this is politicking, annoying and ticking
leave those thoughts in your head
this party is shaking
and you'll be spinning in your bed
sometimes beer tastes like blood
on your face and on the floor
sometimes you wake up
with "fear" spray painted on the door

fucking in the back of an ambulance
spaced out on the sidewalk with a pucker
uptown lovers become downtown suckers
when the party's over

sometimes beer tastes like wine
I wanna eat her legs all the time
when she says "all people are swine"
turn off you phone and get in line
sometimes beer tastes like blood
on your face and on the floor
sometimes you wake up
with blood spattered on the door

tell someone your memories
tell them so they don't forget
covered of shade of green
that could be jealously or debt

Television Personalities - When Emily Cries

Emily cries in her bedroom at night
Dreams in her sleep of the boy that she loves
Letters he sent will she treasure before
Scattered in pieces on her bedroom floor

She's so sad
She's so sad
Hear her cry through the night
She's so sad
She's so sad
Hear her cry through the night

She'll never love again

Melanie cries in her bedroom at night
Dreams in her sleep of the boy that she loves
Letters he sent will she treasure before
Now her heart is broken she'll never love again

Love is blue
Why does it hurt?
So much pain, so much pain
Yeah love is blue
Why does it hurt so much
So much pain, so much pain

She'll never love again
Too scared to fall in love again
She'll never love again
Too scared to fall in love again
She'll never love again

Too scared to even try again

Mission Of Burma - Trem Two

The face at the window
The features I know
I try to escape but
The world is too slow
The question is big
The question is wide
I can't see around it
I see only one side
I hid from the heavens
The heaviest sleep
Deserve the unwanted
When love is so deep
Now I was touching you
The pleasures are past
And now there is only
The dreams are all melting
Only to reform
Outside the heavens
Where thoughts are reborn
Where thoughts are reborn
Where thoughts are reborn

Write A Sad Poem

write a sad poem
to make you feel better
put it down on paper
and then throw it away

Nomeansno - I Need You

I want to come home now
I've been away too long
I want to come back
I'm too sick at heart and scared to go
I can't pretend any more
To you i can't pretend
I need a friend
I can't be alone any more
I need you

Now cut off, apart, isolated
In my pride, in my hatred
My face is sad and afraid
Black in the sun and white in the shade
The night reflects it
In every window i pass
In evrey pane of glass
I can't last, like this, i can't last
I need you
I need you now

All those I pushed away
They walk with me, live in me now
And the silence of what I never said
Screams in my ears and pounds in my head
But when I look at you
I know i could never lie
You see all of me when I look into your eyes
I need you
I need you now

Woke up dreaming that I was dead
Beside you on the bed
I smoothed my hand across your hip
And lingered with my fingertips
From beyond, from far away
Blessing where the shadows lay
I whispered what i could not say
How you took my breath away

There is no world and I am a shadow
You are no woman and I am no man
There are only eyes and arms and hands
The eyes that cut me out
The arms that hold me round
The hands that reach out to pick me up
And lift me from the ground
Go ahead, raise me from mud
Then in the light burn me down
And whether I live forever, heaven sent
Or am doomed to die, earth bound, it doesn't matter
You may let the years drip from my face
As the world turns round and round
But as long as I can breath
Can lift my voice and make a sound
In everything I am, in everything I do
A am your servant, I need you
I need you
I need you now

Psychic Dreams

Damn weird psychic dreams
Predicting almost everything

Ceremony - World Blue

The world's down with sentiment
Harp strings that I've never heard
Family talk they talk a lot
Talking into telephones

Talking into telephones
Talking into telephones
Talking into telephones
Talking into telephones

I used to have a broken head
Broken words from broken thoughts
Too much blame on sorry self
I caught the world flu
I saw the world blue

I saw the world blue
I saw the world blue
I saw the world blue
I saw the world blue

Joy It Seems

gallant strides in eyes
the worst is better
in arms or letters
in smaller tides
when love it seems
comes to me
it comes in weather
it comes whenever
crossed an eye
in lazy afternoon
for the better reasons
of our lost last June
when joy it seems
still comes to me
I remember everything
I remember when I would see
a stride of confidence
and lazy indifference
hidden behind a little lie
that the mind ignores
but the hands adore
and love it seems
comes with the tides

Billy Bragg - Valentine's Day Is Over

Some day boy you'll reap what you've sown
You'll catch a cold and you'll be on your own
And you will see that what's wrong with me
Is wrong with everyone that
You want to play your little games on

Poetry and flowers pretty words and threats
You've gone to the dogs again and I'm not placing bets
On you coming home tonight anything but blind
If you take me for granted then you must expect to find
Surprise, surprise

Valentine's day is over, it's over
Valentine's day is over

If you want to talk about it well you know where the phone is
Don't come round reminding me again how brittle bone is
God didn't make you an angel the devil made you a man
That brutality and economy are related now I understand
When will you realise that as above so below there is no love

For the girl with the hour glass figure
Time runs out very fast
We used to want the same things but that's all in the past
And lately it seems that as it all gets tougher
Your ideal of justice just becomes rougher and rougher

Thank you for the things you bought me thank you for the card
Thank you for the things you taught me when you hit me hard
That love between two people must be based on understanding
Until that's true you'll find your things
All stacked out on the landing, surprise, surprise

Protect Me

calm breath teared
a little girl in dancing shoes
a grown woman in a lost city
can you protect me
from death threats?
will you come to me
when you can?
smear lips holds breath
and a shield of care
in her hair
in her words
in little winks
can she protect me
from death threats?

The Promise Ring - Happiness Is All The Rage

We could do more outdoor things,
if we weren't so busy getting busy.
Doing laundry finally,
the first sign of first light,
still nothing to wear between us.
Now I am so filled with just one girl my eyes barely open
and I can barely read.
So this is the end of the past,
the first sign of first light,
its alright between us.
I got my body and my mind on the same page
and now happiness is all the rage.
Still nothing to wear between us.
Happiness is all the rage.

Jawbox - Savory

hey angel
consider
your position
framed to be consumed
savory
savoring your sympathy

hey angel
fly over
and bless me
see you feign surprise
that I'm all eyes
and you're all you
need to be
need to be

hey angel
whatever
position
we consider fit
to put you in
you'll protest your
complicity

easy now

one hand will wash the other

Victimization

in victimization my eyes glow
from one word blows
to multi-word stabs
I don't know what I did
to suffer like this
under thumbs painted
and ones only hated
but in victimization
one can victimize themselves
smarter chosen
to not chose
useless you unless you
choke on those thoughts
what have you brought
to this conversation
but to be bitter
and no empathy
if you feel bad
chose to not given
if you feel bad
it's your thoughts given
to you from you
and you chose them
to me it is written
and black and sicken
but it's victimization
and depression
not forgiveness
or moving forward

Trying Hard To Forget

you say
"the sound will help us through
and the moments I can make
will fit just for you".
I say it's not worth trying to
but the neurons and molecules
will make up for it
and you sit on the sidewalk
trying to forget
you sit on a glass of wine
or a crumbling spine
trying to forget

you say
"you are probably sick
of me saying something like this
but you never fit".
I say I never have but will
stare as I sit
until you succumb to it
so you don't forget
even while you endlessly
smashing your own head
on the sidewalk

The Cure - 10:15 Saturday Night

10:15 on a Saturday night
and the tap drips
under the strip light
and I'm sitting
in the kitchen sink
and the tap drips
drip drip drip drip drip drip drip...

waiting
for the telephone to ring
and I'm wondering
where she's been
and I'm crying for yesterday
and the tap drips
drip drip drip drip drip drip drip...

it's always the same...

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,
poor souls born
it's innocent enough
when you can't think
and you are barley you
and your fingers and toes
barley move
you are born, that's true
and you die, in time

Dear Reader,
you start off purely
but can't think
can't tell left from right
or breath on your own
or feed your face
or know my home
or know alone
a baby is born

Dear Reader,
you don't know love
you know dependance
you know you know
that independence
is earned outright
and when you care
or care not to
you've earned it
 
My Lovely Dear,
with the solitude of born
you are welcome to my blood
you are welcome to darkness
you are welcome to light
we share in this
and that is what bonds us
and I love you
I love you

I Stand Correct

trapped out now
but not self induced
I can leave it alone
for you to know
that the things
that keep me in
and no power of my own
while music takes air
and friends stand up there
trapped while someone else
had put into the mind
a punishment for me
created out of jealousy
so sorry, myself
so long as I can
no one I know
is stronger than that
so strange, myself
so no one can throw
myself off my balance
and my mind is thorough
I stand correct
trapped out now
but I borrow one phrase
and scorn out another
I stand correct and subject
to unjust punishment

My Lawyer Says So

you are owned

and your self is not your own

follow follow follow unknown

scare me, you can

I won't be owned

scare me, you can

I won't no no no

you are in my bones

false break and miss

trace lines in kiss

you are owned

but my lawyer says so

so I say no

Sex Pistols - No Feelings

I've seen you in the mirror when the story began.
And I fell in love with you. I love yer mortal sin.
Yer brains are locked away but I love your company.
I only ever leave you when you got no money.
I got no emotions for anybody else.
You better understand I'm in love with myself, myself.
My beautiful self.

No feelings for anybody else.

Hello and goodbye and a run around Sue.
You follow me around like a pretty pot of glue.
I kick you in the head you got nothing to say.
Get out of the way cause I gotta get away.
You never realize I take the piss out of you.
You come up and see me
and I'll beat you black and blue okay.
I'll send you away.

I got no feelings.
No feelings for anybody else.
Except for myself.
My beautiful self dear.

There ain't no moonlight after midnight.
I see you stupid people out looking for delight.
Well I'm so happy, I'm feeling so tine.
I'm watching all the rubbish you're wasting my time.
I look around your house and there's nothing to steal.
I kick you in the brains when you get down to kneel and pray.
You pray to your God.

No feelings for anybody else.
Except for myself.
Your daddy's gone away.
Be back another day.
See his picture hanging on your wall.

Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

When I was a young boy my mama said to me
There's only one girl in the world for you and she probably lives in Tahiti

I'd go the whole wide world just to find her

Or maybe she's in the Bahamas where the Caribbean sea is blue
Weeping in a tropical moonlit night because nobody's told her 'bout you

I'd go the whole wide world just to find her
I'd go the whole wide world to find out where they hide her

Why am I hanging around in the rain out here trying to pick up a girl?
Why are my eyes filling up with these lonely tears when there's girls all over the world?

Is she lying on a tropical beach somewhere, underneath the tropical sun?
Pining away in a heatwave there hoping that I won't be long?
I should be lying on that sun-soaked beach with her caressing her warm brown skin.
And then in a year or maybe not quite we'll be sharing the same next of kin.

I'd go the whole wide world just to find her
I'd go the whole wide world to find out where they hide her

Sadistic Statistic

watch the line shrink
your rights engage, enrage
as your breed dies
humanity is only human
in concept
watch your minds tick
your synapses snap
and it's your own violence
on your own lap
sad facts
are sad facts
watch your numbers shrink
and becoming another
sadistic statistic

The New Pornographers - My Rights Versus Yours

Under your wheels, the hope of spring
Mirage of loss, a few more things
You left your sorrow dangling
It hangs in air like a school cheer
Complex notes inside the chords
On every wall inflections carved
Deep as lakes and dark as stars
Remember we were the volunteers

Courts knew this and nothing more
Now it's my rights versus yours

Under your wheels, your hopeless reign
You fall too hard-we're up too late
We hang suspended from the heights
Until it's safer to walk here
Under your wheels, your chance is with
The easy call, the called-off search
The medicine, it still won't work
But there's dangerous levels of it here

Same thing as the other time
But now it's your rights versus mine

The truth in one free afternoon

Under my wheels the chance is held
Gave me to save me from myself
Spectacles painted with my shaking hand
Fingers in paints, in paints we brought
Thinking we'd leave them when we're not
Flying the flags of new empires in rags

The new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon
A new empire in rags
The truth in one free afternoon

Under your wheels, the fits and starts
The time to dabble in the arts
To tease the packs of dogs in charge
But kid it's all wasted on me
Under your wheels, the hope of spring
Mirage of loss, a few more things
The medicine it still won't sing
But there's dangerous levels of it here

Your rights over my rights now
We came to the right place

The Jam - In the City

In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you
But whenever I approach you, you make me look a fool
I wanna say, I wanna tell you
About the young ideas
But you turn them into fears
In the city there's a thousand faces all shining bright
And those golden faces are under 25
They wanna say, they gonna tell ya
About the young idea
You better listen now you've said your bit

And I know what you're thinking
You still think I am crap
But you'd better listen man
Because the kids know where it's at

In the city there's a thousand men in uniforms
And I've heard they now have the right to kill a man
We wanna say, we gonna tell ya
About the young idea
And if it don't work, at least we still tried

In the city, in the city
In the city there's a thousand things I want to say to you

Stop

don't read my poetry
go underneath
a hair lip
and sit under 
fists
you stupid
switch
and what was made
for you by you
for you to do
is a fools fool
and stupid too
now it's just something to do
with no connection for you or me
stop reading my poetry...
....
....
if he only knew

Gang Of Four - To Hell With Poverty

In my arms we shall begin 
with none of the rocks
there’s no charge
In this land right now
some are insane a million charge
To hell with poverty
we’ll get drunk on cheap wine
To hell with poverty
the check will arrive
we’ll turn the boast again
To hell with poverty
the check will arrive
we’ll turn to boast again
In my arms we shall begin
with none of the rocks
and there’s no charge
In this land right now
some are insane
a million charge
To hell with poverty
we’ll get drunk on cheap wine
To hell with poverty

The Shins - Turn On Me

You can fake it for a while,
Bite your tongue and smile,
Like every mother does an ugly child.
But the stars are leaking out,
Like spittle from a cloud,
Amassed resentment counting ounce and pound.

You're entertaining any doubt,
Because you had to know that I was fond of you,
Fond of Y-O-U,
Though I knew you masked your disdain.
I can see that change was just too hard for us,
Hard for us.
You always had to hold the reigns,
But where I'm headed, you just don't know the way.

So affections fade away,
And do adults just learn to play
The most ridiculous, repulsive games?
On the faith of ruddy sons,
And the double-barreled guns,
You better hurry,
Rabbit, run, run, run.
'Cause meeting you was fun,
And there's a lot of hungry howlers in this one cell.
We're taking it over,
Their brittle, thorny stems,
They break before they bend,
And neither one of us is one of them.

And the tails will never mend,
'Cause you had it in for me so long ago.
Boy, I still don't know,
I don't know why and I don't care,
Well, hardly anymore,
If you'd only seen yourself hating me.
Hating me,
When I've been so much more than fair.
But then you had to lay those feelings bare,
One thing I know still got you scared,
You're all that cold iron,
And never once aired of our dead.

You had to know that I was fond of you,
Fond of Y-O-U.
So I took your licks at the time,
And to change like that is just so hard to do,
Hard to do.
Don't let it whip-crack your life,
And bow out from the fight,
Those old pious sisters were right
The worst part is over,
Now, get back on that horse and ride.

They Fall Together

so to guess we put on end
where your brethren suck it in
regiments, mens and mens
we begin were they began

and we say
"they fall together
we fall apart".
and they say
"they fall together
we fall apart".

we forget, back to your life
the same voice they stuck you with
they won't tell you when, once again
breath with us and sleep with them

Leonard Cohen - Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

Piss Popular

steal me
inside rosed and stuffed
put me in a brief case
I've been bad
white curtains blow
where'd they go?
river bluff inside suicide
the body: alive
the brain: dead
and a record spins
where white curtains
and yellow walls go
piss popular
the dirty fingers
grab and hold
and fall off
steal me and love me
and put me in a raincoat
they'd mouth my drugs
he'd seep through teeth
and lie to you
for your own sake:
a selfish act
a wedding suicide
for his bride
and stealing you
for possessing
property, you are
a token in a apartment
a self you give away
and you reason not
the reasons

Belle & Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books

Books from Belle & Sebastian on Vimeo.


It was pretty bright up on the rainbow bridge tonight.
I could see into your window although you’re far away.
You were racing in a car beside a boy.
You just don’t know if he is up for
what you have in mind.
If he is up for what you have in mind.

Change is on the cards, but this time it will be hard
but I never want to leave you,
we’ve never had a fight.
You should never split a pole.
You should never split at all.
I wish I had two paths that I could follow.
I’d write the ending without any sorrow.

I will say a prayer, just while you are sitting there.
I will wrap my hands around you.
I know it will be fine.
We've got a fantasy affair.
We didn’t get wet, we didn’t dare.
Our aspirations are wrapped up in books.
Our inclinations are hidden in looks.

Summer’s hastening on.
I’m trying to get a feeling from the city
but I’ve been unfaithful,
I’ve been traveling abroad.
We’ve got a fantasy affair.
We didn’t get wet, we didn’t dare.
Our aspirations are wrapped up in books.
Our inclinations are hidden in looks.

I Have Dreamed Of You So Much by Robert Desnos

I've dreamed of you so much that you're losing your reality.

Is it already too late for me to embrace your living and breathing body
and to kiss that mouth which is the birthplace of that voice so dear to me?

I've dreamed of you so much that my arms, grown accustomed to lying
crossed upon my own chest in a desperate attempt to encircle your shadow,
might not be able to unfold again to embrace the contours of your body. 

And coming face-to-face with the actual incarnation of what has haunted me
and ruled me and dominated my life for so many days and years

might very well turn me into a shadow.

Oh equilibriums of the emotional scales!

I've dreamed of you so much that it might be too late for me to ever wake up again. 

I sleep on my feet, body confronting all the usual phenomena of life and love,
and yet when it comes to you,

the only being on the planet who matters to me now,

I can no more touch your face and lips than I can those of the next random passerby.

I've dreamed of you so much,
have walked and talked and slept so much
with your phantom presence that perhaps the only thing left for me to do now

is to become a phantom among phantoms,
a shadow a hundred times more shadowy

than that shadow which moves and will go on moving,

stepping lightly and joyfully across the sundial of your life.




A la mystérieuse 1926


Robert Desnos was a French so-called surrealist poet.
Learn more about his beautiful and tragic life here.

some Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp quotes

“As soon as we start putting our thoughts into words and sentences everything gets distorted, language is just no damn good—I use it because I have to, but I don’t put any trust in it. We never understand each other.”
― Marcel Duchamp


"It has never been my object to record my dreams, just the determination to realize them."
― Man Ray


“I force myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.”
― Marcel Duchamp


"There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it."
― Man Ray


“Destruction is also creation.”
― Marcel Duchamp


"There is … your high bridge in Pasadena from which every once in a while someone jumps off, committing suicide. There is no question of removing the bridge. Poems have been written by well-known authors that are supposed to have driven love-sick young people to suicide. These works are not banned. Thousands lose their lives in automobile accidents, yet nothing is done to restrain manufacturers from building lethal instruments that can do more than 30 miles an hour. To me, a painter, if not the most useful, is the least harmful member of our society. An unskilled cook or doctor can put our lives in danger. l have tried ... to paint a picture that would, like the beautiful head of Medusa, turn the spectator to stone ... so that certain ones who looked at it would drop dead … but l have not yet succeeded!"
― Man Ray


“The individual, man as a man, man as a brain, if you like, interests me more than what he makes, because I've noticed that most artists only repeat themselves. ”
― Marcel Duchamp


"All critics should be assassinated."
― Man Ray


“Art is either plagiarism or revolution”.
― Marcel Duchamp


"I have been accused of being a joker. But the most successful art to me involves humor."
― Man Ray


“All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess.”
― Marcel Duchamp


"Unconcerned but not indifferent."
― Man Ray


“All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone.. the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.”
― Marcel Duchamp


“The tricks of today are the truths of tomorrow.”
― Man Ray


“The most interesting thing about artists is how they live”
― Marcel Duchamp,

I Am Lonely Here

it's my fault
I've become crushed
cold water between my eyes
and I am sick, still
the simple movements
that erase a thought
are you speaking to me?
or writing to yourself?
(I wish I knew)

I am lonely here
it's gets dark so early
and cold so quick
I am getting sick

it's my art
I've become cold
mute colors between my eyes
and I'm unhappy still
I want so bad
and want what I can't have
am I remembering it wrong?
or am I just an idiot?
(I wish I knew)

I am lonely here
the windows are covered
like mirrors sometimes are
it's only my breath

it's my thoughts
like actions, undone
focused right between my eyes
and I'm lonely, still
for something lovely and tangible
to wrap my arms around
and feel my slightness of breath
do I have any breath?
(I wish I knew)

I am lonely here
drawing shapes on a cold window
and pressing my nose on it
gazing outside

The Stranglers - (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

Didn't have the money round to buy a Morry Thou.
Been around and seen a lot to shake me anyhow.
Begged and borrowed sometimes I admit I even stole.
The worse crime that I ever did was play some rock 'n roll.

But the money's no good.
Just get a grip on yourself.

Suffering convictions on a two-way stretch inside.
The air in here is pretty thin, I think I'll go outside.
Committed for insanity and crimes against the soul.
The worst crime that I ever did was play some rock 'n roll.

But the money's no good.
Just get a grip on yourself.
And you should know.

Now I find from week to week the sentence sticking fast.
Turn the corner, rub my eyes and hope the world will last.
Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole.
Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n roll.


But the money's no good.
Just get a grip on yourself.
And you should know.

Trying To Remember A Dream

the oddest dreams seem
you whispered something to me
but the room was too loud
and I only saw your lips move
waking warm unrolled
was sad to not be real
of the words I thought you whispered
"did you hear that it's over"?
were what I want to hear
and you were smiling
a happiness that's rarely seen
but in this mornings fog
I find it odd
a dream never to be

it's odd where the mind goes
the inherent selfishness
of wanting happiness
and sleeping should be
happy with tears
happy with scars
happy with being alone
happy just for the sake
of happiness
can I remember more
by going back to sleep?
I'd like to sleep forever

Guided By Voices - Hold On Hope

Every street is dark
And folding out mysteriously
Where lies the chance we take to be
Always working
Reaching out for a hand 
that we can't see
Everybody's got a hold on hope
It's the last thing that's holding me

Invitation to the last dance
Then it's time to leave
But that's the price we pay
when we deceive
One another/animal mother
She opens up for free
Everybody's got a hold on hope
It's the last thing that's
holding me

Look at the talkbox 
in mute frustration
At the station
There hides the cowboy
His campfire flickering
on the landscape

That nothing grows on
But time still goes on
And through each life of misery
Everybody's got a hold on hope
It's the last thing that's holding me

Radiohead - Nude

Don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen

You paint yourself white
And fill up with noise
But there'll be something missing

Now that you've found it, it's gone
Now that you feel it, you don't
You've gone off the rails

So don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen

You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking

Just To Move Our Lips

confined by language
I'm fit into a space
with no meaning
it could not be explained

"where is the worst place
you have ever been"?
"...and when I mean ever been
I mean in your mind"?

confined by body
I'll break out one day
nothing to say
because words have no meaning

"kiss me here,
where you haven't kissed before".
"it's like we don't need to talk".
oh but how you can talk

too confining a concept
when no truth is just
we talk in circles and kiss
just to move our lips

"we talk just to kiss
and no mistakes are real".
"you know how I feel"?
no, no I don't

First Answer

it's who you ask
but the first answer
is often wrong
take it
and place it
in front
for another time
for when it's in front
it will remind
you were it's gone

Talking Heads - Road To Nowhere

(Well, we know where we're goin'
but we don't know where we've been.
And we know what we're knowing'
but we can't say what we've seen.
And we're not little children
and we know what we want.
And the future is certain
give us time to work it out).

We're on a road to nowhere, come on inside.
Takin' that ride to nowhere, we'll take that ride.
I'm feelin' okay this mornin' and you know.
We're on the road to paradise, here we go.

We're on a road to nowhere, come on inside.
Takin' that ride to nowhere, we'll take that ride.
Maybe you wonder where you are, I don't care.
Here is where times is on our side, take you there.
Take you there.

We're on a road to nowhere.

There's a city in my mind
come along and take that ride,
and it's all right. Baby it's all right.
And it's very far away
but it's growing day by day
and it's all right. Baby it's all right.
Would you like to come along
you can help me sing this song,
and it's all right. Baby it's all right.
They can tell you what to do
but they'll make a fool of you,
and it's all right. Baby it's all right.
There's a city in my mind
come along and take that ride

We're on a road to nowhere.

Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All

Walking around with your head in the clouds
Makes no sense at all
Sell yourself short, but you're walking so tall
Makes no sense at all
Is it important? You're yelling so loud
Makes no sense at all
Walking around with your head in the clouds
Makes no sense at all
Makes no difference at all

I don't know why you want to tell me
When I'm right or when you're wrong
It's the same thing, in your mind, the only time
I'm right is when I play along

You concern yourself with evidence
It's evident to me
Well you say you've got the tiger by the tail
But I don't see these things that way

Madness And Me

normal lies go along way
and when you discover
the lies men tell
it's only a small bit of truth
that brings you to the end
you pretend it's true
pretend it's you
it's madness, madness

it's madness and me
we hold together
hold it together
and not lose control
it's the smallest details
that seem hopeless
that hold me together
and give me hope

How Many Times Can I Write This To Myself

how many times
can you be demoralized
in a broken home
chest open
how many times
can you try to try
in a thumping heart
to heal yourself
how many times
can you be determined 
to change your mind
an open mind
how many times
can you write a poem
to someone who never listens

how many times
can I be demoralized
in a broken home
chest open
how many times
can I try to try
in a thumping heart
to heal myself
how many times
can I be determined 
to change my mind
an open mind
how many times
can I write a poem
to someone who never listens

Blurred Communication

when my technology fails
and I somehow can just see
into minds, forgiven
forgive my intrusion
I'm psychic now
and the thoughts bellow
and moods mellow
below a dress confesses
it's dreams to me
and I dream the dreams
as if they were my own
take ownership
of what you know
and make up the rest

is it one day too soon
or is it another broken mood
that fills the space in dreams
I peer down minds
like facing a storm
head on but not stubborn
instead asking
but can you ask
from mind to mind
not through a television
or a telephone set
not in eyes or words
but blurred communication
I wish you could hear me

Over Stayed

vomit with paper
that was meant to clean it up
looking over the rim of cheap
Chinese glasses, seeing this as a mess 
that can't be cleaned up
these crazy socialites
the smell of old perfume
and wine stained teeth
they succumb to tastes
they breathe in your face
is it okay to go home now

Robyn Hitchcock - Chinese Bones

Watching Romeo dissolve I was tempted to join him
by the mirror of the lake where the statues unfurled.
I had never seen a man so abuse his reflection.
As the light shines through your Chinese bones.

Watching Juliet unrobe I would hasten toward her
but around her feet I sat that her serpent was curled.
And her eyeballs had rolled up so her pupils had vanished.
And the light shines through your Chinese bones.
As the light shines through your Chinese bones.

I met an interesting door and I opened it slowly.
As you walked towards the east then the shadow must rise.
Something Shakespeare never said was 'you've got to be kidding'.
As the light shines through your Chinese bones.
As the light shines through your Chinese bones.

The line between us is so thin I might as well be you.
And everywhere I've ever been I know you're going to.
As the light shines through your Chinese bones.
Chinese bones.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Feel Beautiful

I feel beautiful
Because you love me

I water the tomatoes and I think of you
No one's ever watered me the way you do

I feel beautiful
Because you love me

I feel like a creature that is sleekly groomed
Not some poisoned soul that is alone and doomed

I feel beautiful
Because you love me

I see the clock in shadow and I see your face
You and me belong in the same time and place
People never celebrate the things they've got
Honey without you I wouldn't have a lot

I feel beautiful
Because you love me
Because you love me

Yes, we're alive at the same time
Like mayflies
Like fireflies

I've been hanging 'round Covent Garden for you for centuries
I've been waiting on Festival Pier for you, honey, for decades

I wake up in the morning and I face the East
I am in the paws of an enormous beast

I feel beautiful
Because you love me
Because you love me

Ted Leo - (none)

When I get to troubles with language,
the fate of the whole world is what's at stake.
I look at the liberties I take,
and look past those words to what's your own,
and bring those words of yours back home,
because words are all I know.

When this dialectic gets boring,
I think about the words of the Mode E
if I could choose the mode I'd like to be,
I'd choose to be with you.
I know, it's really not a mode per se, but so?
I'd choose it anyway,
and find a new mode
with every name you name.

So give me a name for your hair down
and coffee in your Federal Hill cafe.
Just like you named the weekend of dolce days.
And name my nervousness, ooh-won't you?
And all my inadequacies -- name them too.
And just like this tape machine -- how I snaked you!
And how the Farinas say, "I sawel you"
And your favorite dinner of glowing tofu.
And how I'm at least 4 names to you.
And how you touch all the lives you move through.
And how language proves that it's YOU
who's got a sexy mouth.
You got a sexy mouth.
You got a sexy mouth.
You got a sexy mouth.
You got a sexy mouth.
Name it too.
Name it too.
Name it too.
Name it too. 

Mornings Onto Afternoons

when morning is spoiled
by the simple act of afternoon
when lying in bed with you
is days on end
for a days end
a simple sweet sweat
"in delay there lies no plenty"
but what if in these things
that lay with the insects
that line the sheets
and the pleasures of
endless truth instill
a morning after feels
more right than it kills
and if there isn't no anymore
or anymore late mornings
that glide into afternoons
it's a chemical in my head
that remembers not
what was said
but the way you looked
in that light

Spoon - Jealousy

Jealousy you have never done a thing for me,
No, you've never done a thing for me.
Jealousy.
Jealousy.
Things go wrong,
it sends me somewhere that I don't belong,
yeah its just someplace that I don't belong,
things go wrong.
Jealousy.
I think of him
and I get so carried on,
I think of him, oh yeah.
I think of him
and then things get carried on.
oh no no no no no,
I think of him and its jealousy,
but its never done a thing for me, no,
its never done a thing for me.
Jealousy.
Jealousy.

Care For Your City

care for the cities
pressed into my skin
save this city
save this skin
building up
to break it down
city in a city
where sorrows dwell
over silly towers
and lonely hills
where I was born
small enough
to stay away
from no one
care for your city
if a city anyway
is no place to be

Dead Hand

dead hand
dead friend
dead heart
dear hands
dear friends
dear hearts

speaking to you
walking through leaves
a quiet rustle indeed
while eating sleeves
and shivering trees
hats over ears

dormant sighs
deafening smiles
defeated gracefully
dead eyes
dead comrades
dead luck

speaks in words
no one can hear
walking in air, there
bored in ears
and mind is kind
to something else

Crying From Stage

the obligatory break down
you break down for real
a silver light
on your head
blinding your face
falling off a stage
it's night that never fades
but your spotlight shines
on the tears on your face
crying on stage
for a life never made
thank them later
they are your reason

I'm here boxed
I'm here embarrassed
I'm here for you
to laugh at me
I'm here afraid
I'm here to share
I'm here to abuse
so you don't have to

art shared
sad and alone
in front of a hundred people
eyes fixated
on the tears
streaming down your face
art embarrassed
and fixated on
the crying fool
sad and alone
so sad and alone
in a crowd of fools

The Long Arm Of The Tongue

sweet bitter salts unrested
with things I should have never said
the long arm of the tongue
long words that have come undone
do not write things you can not say
to someone's wrinkled little face
even if you never see it again
with your tongue cut off
for speaking love and lies
and wide eyed eyes
squinting the words
"I miss you like the dickens"

Birthday Poem 3

one mustn't fight the urge to
wear black and grey
on your birthday
one mustn't cry or drink
one thought to think
dance in time to notes
under 120 hertz
a refreshing rate
a beat to match your age
the day you were born
isn't that special
but it's little celebrations
worth celebrating
and you are alive
like everyone else alive