ME & VAN GOGH

Me n Van Gogh
we cover the terrain
the colors r insane
acid on my brain
I say hey vince
don't cut off yr ear
he says it's for a portrait
I think it's kinda queer

Wild eyes
spin like ferris wheels
I stay humble
in his shaky arms
Orange sun, boats of blue, fields of yellow

I ask him about
that failure thing
His face don't tell me nuthin'
His brother is an angel
He creeps me out
Sees right thru me
I love him like a wife
Smile change my life

Wild eyes
spin like rooster tails
I stay humble
in his shaky arms
Orange sun, boats of blue, fields of yellow

Rings of saturn
round his head
murderer scary
in someone's bed
Ya gotta like
a face like his
drive-by kisses,
whiskey lips

Orange sun, boats of blue, fields of yellow...

CRIMINAL

I don't know how
ya get to be so beautiful
When ya look like that
I gotta say it's criminal

Are you an angel?
Are you sad?
When th door flies open
's that good thing or bad?

I'm talking to an idiot
just so I
Can look at you & not give away
anything

If we hang out
I'd get so lost
Yr laugh yr voice yr face yr hands
Im shakin with it

I don't know how
ya get to be so beautiful
I'm too scared t talk t you
ain't got a strategy

Take you home in my mind
Make up yr story write every line
We'd get along great
Nobody hurt
You never get ugly
I'm never a jerk

Oh baby
Im shakin with it

SLUT

I'm a slut
I'm a ho
I’ll be anyone
you lookin for

I'm a slut
I'm a ho
& all ya gotta
is want me

I'm a slut
I'm a ho
I’ll do anything
you lookin for

& I’ll listen
& I’ll laugh
I am yr pornographic
piece of ass

I'm a priest
I'm a politician
I'm a rock star
& I'm a fag
I'm a CEO
& I'm a newsman
I'm yr Mommy/Daddy
& I'm a bear

I'm a slut
I'm a ho
I am woman
& so much more

& I’ll listen
& I’ll laugh
I am yr pornographic
piece of ass

I am a slut
I'm a ho
& all ya gotta do is want me

BUDDHA

It’s a sad sad world
& I am just pretendin
to be good
Inscrutable Mona Lisa in the hood

It’s a blue blue sky
Faces as transparent
as rain on a pane of glass
it’s a blue blue sky

I am the Buddah

It’s a cold cold night
Outa work and outa love
Standing single file
It’s a cold cold night

I am the Buddah

DON'T TALK ABOUT JOAN

Don't talk about Joan
Don't talk
Don't talk about her
I'm in love with her

She walks
into a room
She doesn't know me
but I don't care
& love is not always easy
Love is not always kind
If I get away with this
it'll be a perfect crime

She drives
this old convertible
the sun is warm
in her hair
I look outside my window
& she is at a stoplight
drinking a beer
she doesn't know I'm here

I saw her
yesterday
she was standing alone
in a crowd
Her sunglasses on
her hair pulled back
& she was crying
I was no help at all

THE RIDE

forty beers at the peoples republic + nobody in there's Chinese
guys r so ripped they piss from a distance on yellow blistering knees
a phoney soprano a bearded buffoon orders another cheap round
harvard queens r arguing cross-eyed intellectual cocks on the prowl

i don't know if this
is where i ought to laugh
i don't like the reflection
an oncoming car up my ass

skywalker car a ashtray of butt wheels like a velveteen surf
radio's off yr cel phone is on Virginia Woolfe on yr face like a smirk
leave the city behind a discarded can on the slope of a tinfoil sky
ahead on the road is a rich people's park - Nahant with a Mafia vibe

oh i don't know if this
is where i ought to stop
i don't like yr reaction
hey is that a cop?

every few minutes the beer takes over + we pull off t spit
atlantic ocean a breakwater jam with waves like a communist fist
it's dark out here on a finger of land with a house like a chapter + verse
crown on the grass like the buzz of a punk dazed + beautifully hurt

suns on the rise tomorrow is work for the sad takin' showers on speed
hope against hope for a cry or a twist or a skirt or a spray or a scream
we've run outa words + wr peacefully sexy in the stench of this long ride
whaddya call it? a Kerouac night on a quest like a headbanger's high

i don't know if this
is where i ought to say
goodnight my friend am i
or are you betrayed?

PARTY DRESS

Will I ever see you again?
Were we ever more than friends?

Southern California roof top kid
Change of color, change of skin
Ya read all them body shop hard ass red dogs
They like you a lot I bet they did
Bet they did

You chase yr brain all around the world
Heart of sand, hand of pearls
The mirror hurts but you laugh at the mess
Mascara meltin on yr party dress
Party dress

Lightning bottle smile, a boy on a bike
Nervous eye dancin', pokerface insight
They shut you down, mr shiny & new
The canary dies in the coal mine
singin the blues

Speed of sound
Speed of light
Speed aint nothin
face-to-face in the starless night

A LETTER
(for Mark Anthony Houseworth)

Dear Rick,
How's the civilized world out there? You know I'm writin' you this letter from prison...

Last night I dreamed that I was free
but when I woke up I’m still in prison you see
I am so ashamed of the last year of my life
the money, the drugs, & the sleeze
There is so much pain
I brought it all on myself
while others got hurt along the way

& so I cry in the shower
where no one can see
Sometimes it hurts so bad I get a headache
you would not believe

I told so many lies with my body before
my feelings, my voice - I used 'em
I'm just a love whore
The people who wanted to help me, I just push aside
I'm in prison now but I think that I spent
a good part of my life
imprisoned inside

I feel just like a caged animal
I'm losing my whole summer, you see
I want another chance so bad, my friend
It's hot in here & there's no breeze
I think I'd rather sleep in the Common
then be locked up in here
I don't mean to be such a baby boy

BEER BELLY

I got a beer belly
Aint nuthin gonna do about it
Got a beer belly
Ain't gonna change

Get a 6 pack after work
I love my corner bar
Cold one in my hand
's Heaven

I don't trust anybody 'f he don't drink
I don't trust myself when I'm drinkin
South Beach diet dat f hairdressers
...not me.

Got a big t-shirt
n baggy pants
When I'm drunk
I got a dirty rant
Anything pretty after 18 beers...
C'mere baby

Got a beer belly
Wanna touch it?
Ain't gonna change
Don't want to

LAST MAN STANDING

Are you the last man standing?
Well I doubt it
if I can see you
you can’t be alone
Are you the last man standing?
Say somethin
I jus’ need directions home

I been workin the street too damn long
I been riding this train, it ain’t no sleeper
I been runnin’ outa drugs t get me high
Naked packs of wolves w/ switchblade eyes

I see starlight in your face
Bloodshot, baggy insolent
When you smile are you laughin’ at me?
I don’t think so…answer me

Does it take more guts t quit than to continue?
Is jealousy part of life or a life apart?
Is the war inside us something even winnable?
Do my questions hit yr heart? Are they off the mark?

I see honesty in your face
Lines all over, a mirror cracked
Are your silent or are you deep?
Am I the clown?
Are you the witness?

Rain + dust + diamonds + pain
Shattered glass, innocence + longing
Take me, break me, turn my life around
Tell me…tell me now
Before the sun goes down
Are you the last man standing?
Say something.
I just need directions…

ROCK N ROLL ROMANCE

Kids are loud & laced with neon
Baby faces bounce & fall
Alcoholic mask of rubber
Hopelessly romantic doll
Singer got a pink stiletto
Stinkin up the microphone
Drummer look real psychedelic
Glasses of mercurochrome

It's just a rock n roll romance

Seems like you know everybody
All the kids around the scene
Stayin high & hug & kissin'
Dancin like a jungle Queen
Love is not exactly feeling
Just emotion on the make
What th' Hell doesn't matter
What is real & what is fake

It's just a rock n roll romance

Girl on piano
Gin on the drums
Drugs in the bathroom
& a boy on the run

It's just a rock n roll romance

DO YOU STILL LOVE ME?
(for Sammy)

Do you
still love me?
I really need t know
Do you
still want me around?
or is it better
that I go?

Thought of writing you a letter
Thought of giving you a call

Do you
still like me?
Do you think I'm funny
or strangely slow
t pick up the pieces
of a broken heart
the way I used to
not so long ago

Maybe I've become a coward
cuz i don't want you to say no

Sitting in the kitchen with our lives inside my head
My heart is so damn full it's gonna break
I'll never understand how something beautiful as the sun
Get's stuck inside a cloud
+ leaves ya standin'
in the rain