november nine

(in response to november ninth)

don’t run, fly!
always chased
but they can’t follow me here

the buildings are beautiful
the lights, gorgeous
and i’m always running into friends

brickhead is looking for me
stickman wants me back

what happened to you?

it was a teddy bear picnic gone awry!

always with the gum stuck in the mouth
how embarrassing
what about all these loose teeth?

flip through the dictionary
i can read here, too
and never just in black and white
just time and numbers and bathrooms that give me trouble
the light switches never work

i forgot my shoes again

wrote another song
someone else sang it
but i wrote it

learned about sailing in the hot tub
fully equipped
piano made sense

and then my mom took a swing at me
shot me once, too
with a rifle
she was mad about groceries
and something to do with my grandmother
i woke up sore
in real life

what does that say about me?

this old familiar cottage on the lake
where bad things happen
and we sailed the ice berg right through
and nobody even noticed
stayed under water the whole time
and he floated right over top
held my breath even though i didn’t need to

people in wolf’s clothing

you visited me once after what happened
in real life

and you died
in your happiest moment
up on stage with the band
crowd surfed up to heaven

and i spent the rest of the day calling you
because i’ve been known to predict things
in real life

leaving me stranded on a brick wall
amid the fog
watching the churning see

he abandoned me, too.
me with just this elephant
with one tear

but you left me with so much more

who knows what he gets into while i sleep