Tag Archives: Love

A DEBBIE MOMENT

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , , , / / by

A DEBBIE MOMENT

I was noticing again the other day
watching a movie, strangely enough
called “Remains of the Day”
that even though you died
you haven’t gone away

In the movie
a bird gets trapped in the house
and tries to fly
through the high ceiling glass

Remember the time in the office in Austin
when the sparrow was trying in panic to
escape in this way

You spoke to it in your stardust voice
and it landed in trust in your hand

I remember the windows you flew against
and your trust so light in my hands

And it’s a comfort to see
you and the sparrow
both flying free

THOUGHTS ON A DEBBIE MOMENT

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , , , , / / by

THOUGHTS
ON
A DEBBIE MOMENT

Debbie, a great friend of mine, died too young
and in too much pain in Houston about five
years ago now

This moment just sneaked up on me
earlier this year

Can’t help wondering how many people
are having Debbie moments now in New
York and around the world from what
happened just six weeks ago

How many people in the world in the last
five years having Debbie moments from
a hole blown in their sky

HANGING TEN WITH DEBBIE

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , / / by

HANGING TEN WITH DEBBIE

When she was alive
she was just so damn alive
It makes her being dead
just so damn much more dead

We were together
the day the Challenger exploded
and the day the Gulf War started

Violence all around but we never fought

We just laughed and played
and howled at the moon

And surfed ten years
on that sweet sexual edge of almost
then she died

If either of us
had leaned ten degrees closer
we might have caught the perfect curl
and saved the world

Three degrees and we might have been
two reef torn bodies on the sand
but I block out scenes like that

I just see her innocent wave goodbye

I just watch the uncaught waves roll by

FROST BITE

Audio Recordings, Cowboy Poetry, Relationships / tagged , , , / / by

FROST BITE

On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow

In January on the Wood River
the laces got wet and then stiff
and could not be untied

Walked the whimpering long mile home
in one frozen skate and one warm boot
part of my foot and all my toes
numb and milky white

On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow

Too much warmth all at once
can bring the feeling rushing back
with more pain than you can stand

I have since learned
and this is the sad part
It is the same way with the heart

A BOAT CALLED TRUTH

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , / / by

A BOAT CALLED TRUTH

We have known and loved each other
deeply all these years

Each one or both always honouring some
relationship with someone else

So we never quite say it
and we never quite do it

One sunny day in Santa Barbara harbour
we see the name “TRUTH” on a pretty boat

We take each other’s pictures by the stern
but we never get on the boat

LULLABY TO POLARITY

Audio Recordings, Personal Growth / tagged , , , / / by

LULLABY TO POLARITY

The more the more you are woman
the more I am man

The more you rest soft in my arms
the stronger they become

The more the more I am man
the more you are woman

The more the strength
in the shape of the spoon

The more the more even in sleep
you curl up and melt
into sugar and good medicine

YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME

Audio Recordings, Relationships, Travel / tagged , / / by

YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME

How could I ever leave you love
if you didn’t live in Houston

If it wasn’t for the humid swamp
and the trash along the bayou
how could I say good-bye to you

You know I love you dearly
and it ain’t you that makes me run
but Houston traffic’s far from fun
and every Bubba’s got a gun

Yet even with all of that
and the country’s worst damn air
you know that I’ll keep coming back
as long as you are there

And I’ll keep leaving Houston too
after a muggy smoggy day or two

One of these days I hope you know
I’ll take you with me when I go

LOUIS AND SUZANNE

Audio Recordings, Relationships / tagged , , , / / by

LOUIS AND SUZANNE

Suzanne gets cancer
she gets cancer real bad

The doctors get out their big guns
They wage war with everything they’ve got

The cancer laughs at the doctors
It breaks out on many new fronts

The doctors, defeated, suggest surrender
Louis and Suzanne go to Mexico instead

Suzanne drinks fresh juices and does cleanses
Louis quits his job and takes care of Suzanne

Suzanne gets well

Louis takes care of many people
He took care of people in asbestos mines

For years he has not slept well
and he does not breathe well in the mornings

The doctors are treating him for sleep apnoea
Early this year he has a bad cough

The doctors do X-rays, Louis has cancer
Too much asbestos, ten years growing

It is too late for the doctors, or Mexico
Louis dies, life is funny