Books Begin
The books that I’ll only begin
To never turn the last page
Scenes we’ve played out in our minds
That never transfer themselves to life
Oh oh so it goes
I try but I disconnect, distractions are too great
Oh oh so it goes
Shot through with discontent
As new books begin
I waste it just like the advice
That’s being dished out from hindsight
The books that I’ll only begin
Gathering dust between the ends
Oh oh so it goes
I try but I disconnect, distractions are too great
Oh oh so it goes
Shot through with discontent
As new books begin
Oh oh so it goes
I try but I disconnect, distractions are too great
Oh oh so it goes
Shot through with discontent
As new books begin
Last Dance Of The Decade
Ground glistening, crystallised engagement
Ring that’s too big, slipping from your finger
Safety words alone won’t save us
In the last dance of the decade
Tender hands try to take the strain
You never thought that you’d two-step this way again
But I’m glad that you did
Ice beneath, will it break or carry us
To planned Persian trips in saffron hills
Deliver us
Safety words alone won’t save us
In the last dance of the decade
Tender hands try to take the strain
You never thought that you’d two-step this way again
But I’m glad that you did
I’m glad that you did
You never thought that you’d two-step this way again
But you’re dancing, you’re dancing
Who’s leading this on?
In the last dance of the decade
Tender hands try to take the strain
You never thought that you’d two-step this way again
But I’m glad that you did
I’m glad that you did
Yes I’m glad that you did
The Spell
Sheets of noise surround you now
As close as a butterfly kiss
Your voice is loud and in my room
It’s whispering through the gaps in the floor
Saying “now that that life has gone”
You try to break the spell to no avail
Still you don’t know why happiness was so hard to find
When it’s running through your fingers
Try to make a fist and hold tight, hold tight
Of all the things you’re giving thanks for
Whispering through the gaps in the floor
Saying “now that that life has gone”
You try to break the spell to no avail
Still you don’t know why happiness was so hard to find
Hard to find
Now that that life has gone
You try to break the spell to no avail
Still you don’t know why happiness was so hard to find
I guess I always will
You try to break the spell
Come on and break the spell
In This Life
Rolling eyes round
The ellipse of the glass
White knuckle tight in my hands
Your whispered answers
Release the clasp
With ushered in affirmations
With your words still hanging in the air
The memories of our recent times genuflect and disappear
As your tribute from the heart
Transcends all this illness and strife
And restores some faith in this life
Evening sun on the new wild flowers at the central reservation
Resets our positions as we make our decisions
With a face down on the fear that we outgrew
With your words still hanging in the air
The memories of our recent times genuflect and disappear
As your tribute from the heart
Transcends all this illness and strife
And restores some faith in this life
You make a square of my cyclical malaise
And say all my heart wants to say
With those words still hanging in the air
The memories of our recent times genuflect and disappear
As your tribute from the heart
Transcends all this illness and strife
And restores some faith in this life
Memory Maps
Memory maps studded in blanks
Collecting particles, disturbed by your recall
How they move, how much is true
Depends on the replay and the speed of the delay
So what are the guidelines, what are the rules?
Don’t get caught out
Dissecting the past, the rights and wrongs
Just know there was
Time was to blame while I protested too much
Had it all in my hands and then dropped the latch
So circumnavigate this collective heartache
Memory maps, memory maps
Tapping you on your shoulder
Don’t lose track looking back
For your own sake
So what are the guidelines, what are the rules?
Don’t get caught out
Dissecting the past, the rights and wrongs
Just know there was
So what are the guidelines, what are the rules?
Don’t get caught out
Dissecting the past, the rights and wrongs
Just know there was
Just know there was
Owning my Condition
Days are crossed out
Months are misplaced
And years go by without trace
I know it’s been a little while
But I’d like to reconnect the wires
So as not to feel that all this is wasted
Will it mean anything to you now?
That I’ve been owning my condition
There’s little to show for a life in slow-mo
But discontent
So shake this shit off
All those shackles you’ve fought
That kept you down
That’s why you’re running now
So as not to feel that all this is wasted
Will it mean anything to you now?
That I’ve been owning my condition
I’ve been owning my condition
So as not to feel that all this is wasted
Will it mean anything to you now?
That I’ve been owning my condition
I’ve been owning my condition
Heligan
In the time it takes for the ribbon
To reappear you’ve lost your thread
How to suspend the disbelief
Without technique, acts and scenes
The platen moving back and forth
Problems persist with the protagonist
No one shares empathy
The platen moves back and forth
Characters are getting punched
Why’s it become so hard to talk?
Shallows
Friday night clawed it back from the brink
Determined not to make the same mistakes
Back in line, taken it into hand
Down to shore, city glinting in the sand
As we go dancing in the shallows
The water flowing
Bare foot in the shallows
The water flowing
We could wade to the derelict pier
Where once or twice ancestors played
Before the ship took a piece of your grace
And left us with matchstick silhouettes
As we go dancing in the shallows
The water flowing
Bare foot in the shallows
The water flowing
We go to the shallows
The water flowing
Bare foot in the shallows
The water flowing
As we go dancing in the shallows
The water flowing
Junk Comfort
Second hand follows the first
Past pale imitations
Stepping back into the past
Through museums to obsolescence
Buy or sell (I tried to say goodbye)
The fake or real (I tried so many times)
We’re filling up on
Junk comfort
Well like it here
In a paradise
Of yesteryear
While away an hour or more
In the midst of nostalgia
I hope we are going to last
Beyond this ephemeral tit-tat
Buy or sell (I tried to say goodbye)
The fake or real (I tried so many times)
We’re filling up on
Junk comfort
Well like it here
In a paradise
Of yesteryear
I tried to say goodbye
I tried so many times
But you’ve got an eye for detail
And values that depreciate
And God knows I’ve missed you
Lighthouse
I tried so very hard to reach you
Upon a sea of crossed semantics
Paddle with the past participles
Towards the shore
Some of us passing
Some of us static
A little flesh on the bones of love
Amidst emotion and mixed devotion
I’ll be true to you, my lighthouse
I tried so very hard to reach you
Against the sucking ebb of instincts
Some of this is second nature, torn apart
Some of us passing
Some of us static
A little flesh on the bones of love
Amidst emotion and mixed devotion
I’ll be true to you
Side by side penguins are rubbing beaks
Take the route towards the land guided by the lighthouse
Some of us passing
Some of us static
A little flesh on the bones of love
Amidst emotion and mixed devotion
I’ll be true to you
Broken Link
I searched for you from dusk till dawn
And broke down years of barriers
But just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
Just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
Signals of smoke, codes of remorse
Letters in ink and your telegrams
Are telling as much as they omit
Just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
Just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
Just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
Just before I saw your face
All I got was this broken link
On The Wireless
A page from random and then read from where
Your eyes find focus on arithmetic
Drop in the ocean and then float around
Distracted by the weekend supplements
Nature or nurture is being debated on the wireless
One day we’ll get our acts together and get this started
From the church window we will hatch a plan
Call in sick, skipping school and keep walking
We’ll leave them all behind to read aloud
And fasten snapshots to the walls
Nature or nurture is being debated on the wireless
One day we’ll get our acts together and get this started
Though the dust of the rooms where I felt shame
Lodge in my lungs for the rest of my natural born days
Dysmorphic diaries I’d stowed away
Getting burnt page by page
Nature or nurture is being debated on the wireless
One day we’ll get our acts together and get this started
Nature or nurture is being debated on the wireless
I knew one day we’d get our acts together and get this started
Oh we’ll get this started
The Sound That I Still Hear First Conversation See-saw, the first conversation You need more than words sometimes My umms and ahhs are walking around You need more than words sometimes In the Script You say I’m not in your script I forgot those words and half of you I’m hiding in your case tonight I forgot those words and half of you Would you remember to forget Always Now No more I’ll intervene Oh these crazy situations As early as October came Oh these crazy situations Come in from the cold, I’ll love you always now At the Controls So you came in through the wrong door When you were in control you messed it up Well I’ve had enough of these moments When you were in control you messed it up At the controls, you’re turning this ship around on your own West With You To say you’ve lost your joie de vivre We forget the names of days Is it enough I want to lift my head up but I can’t find the strings Is it enough Not the Victim You say you’re trapped in a lonely place If you carry on like this Closing your mind You’re drowning in your own apathy And you’re almost there Oh Vincent Your posthumous respect and fame So you trust, commit You’ve had your friends Many a rejection leads life to pictures So you trust, commit You’ve had your friends Between Stations I want to say this again Hey slow down Now you’ve made a break with those stabbing pains Hey slow down Just say that again, oh such a thing Final Correspondence I dropped you a line Describing the scene from memory Now I’ve missed Describing the scene from memory Pull the other one Trick of Light I see your They’re out on display Because you’re not coming back You were once They’re out on display Because you’re not coming back Say Something Wish I were an hour away If you are where I think, I think Say we won’t go there again Sunshine drive your way to her Glitter on my face Why don’t we just go there again? Because the different times Summer’s retreat is so near Meet Me At The Pictures Three hour films, no intermissions We walk home through sideways rain Down in your basement, rewinding the mix tape I walk home through sideways rain
Conventions of this turn taking
Glottal stops and verbal ticks
Tripping out the missives
And pre-scripted well wishes
To demonstrate what you can’t describe
What I wanted to say
Fix a drink and take sip
Inebriate these giddy nerves
That start to inhibit
To demonstrate what you can’t describe.
It doesn’t matter to me because you’re in mine
Blue moon rising from your mind
Come back to where you know
As I’m not tired
But you’re the sound that I still hear
You lift me up and out my love, my dear
Remember to forget
Moving out of the door so you won’t forget me
I should have been more around
To say those words
But you’re the sound that I still hear
Come and be my life and my love
And remember to forget
Take the chance to forget.
When enough is as much as the past to me
Dog eared; our history
I’m tired and I’m weary of revisionist theory
That we find ourselves in
I’ll love you always now
In cerulean lights of morning
When there’s no resistance
I’ll love you always now
We can trace beginning, middle and end
Beyond summer’s bragging warmth
In winter’s bright blue weather
Is where we have loved the most
That we find ourselves in
I’ll love you always now
In cerulean lights of morning
When there’s no resistance
I’ll love you always now
Come in from the cold, I’ll love you always now.
Entered the room and crashed the party
Showed the heart of a robot, wrote it down
Until the disguise fit your abstract soliloquy
That meant nothing to me
Took a fading light and lower dose that just don’t feel right
Big ideas and all the real ones
Await their take off in a one track mind that likes to run away
On itself to save face
For they’re always taken on the back foot
So for once let’s be selfish, write it down
And disappear, take that holiday
The one way ticket
Took a fading light and lower dose that just don’t feel right
Big ideas and all the real ones
Await their take off in a one track mind that likes to run away
On itself to save face
And burning directions.
Well you know that is fine
I just hope it’s not on account of all this time
Spent living in a place
Where there’s just no light
Though you make me want to figure it out
Hanging on in this safe place
We forget the names of days
Hanging on in this safe place
Contribute nothing and do no harm?
Take me West with you
Come on come on
If I could replace this fear with trust
Take me West with you now
As weak as I am
You make me want to fight for this thing
Give in, it’s so easily carried on
It’s an abstract work, the picture not that clear at first
Contribute nothing and do no harm?
Take me West with you
Come on come on
If I could replace this fear with trust
Take me West with you now.
But it’s only in your head
Help yourself to life
Come on now
You’re not the victim now
Come on, come on
Wake up
Then you’ll be no better than the others
You’re almost there now
So sunken your eyes
You’re almost there now
Feeling so small
You’re almost there now
You’re a real work of art
But you chose your own path
So come on now
You’re not the victim now
Come on, come on
Wake up
But you just don’t want to reach it
It’s the way that you feel
So long, so long, goodbye
Life’s too short to be sad.
In one of many interiors
Well I recall where we sat
Though you dismissed it
But it’s not the modern way to live
At all
And now you’ve got your enemies
Standing in your own light field lately
Oh Vincent cut the reeds that line the roads
You’re clearer now and closer somehow
A work that you will conclude
A fail safe escape route
But it’s not the modern way to live
At all
And now you’ve got your enemies
Standing in your own light field lately
Oh Vincent cut the reeds that line the roads
You’re clearer now and closer somehow.
There’ll be no sound of reaching over
When I open my eyes will you be there?
When I open my eyes wide
And don’t panic now
Just say that again
Oh such a thing
I want to let go and forget
About tomorrow and everything else
That were making you sick
But before too long we are back again
We are back again
And I wonder how it might be
Closing our eyes
As everything is fine now
And don’t panic now
Just say that again
Oh such a thing
I want to let go and forget
About tomorrow and everything else
And be with me between stations.
As some of the things I couldn’t say
In a final correspondence to a friend
Hurry up now, daylight’s wasting
Is harder than you’d think
When the days are all but clear
And it’s your laugh that I long to hear again
So it sounds familiar
The final collection
The casket letter will remain
On the mantelpiece
Behind your picture
Is harder than you’d think
When the days are all but clear
And it’s your laugh that I long to hear again
So it sounds familiar
You’re surely mistaken
Only partial recall now
Through these cobwebs as a veil
On your face.
Antiquities from
Foreign shores
Reminding us of more sentient days
With each one a tale
That won’t be spoken
It was a trick of the light
Brightened up your eyes
But not your cognition
And it’s hard to tell you anything
As you are just not there
You’re just not there
Of elephantine
Recall
Reminding us of more sentient days
With each one a tale
That wont be spoken
It was a trick of the light
Brightened up your eyes
But not your cognition
And it’s hard to tell you anything
As you are just not there
You’re just not there.
When I’m thinking of all these things
They’re always near
It doesn’t really matter now
It’s all history
Because I will not go
Fight, oh fight, why won’t I fight?
I guess I’m not a fighter
From the night before
I cannot wash it all off
Can’t say
Why don’t we just go there again?
Blend into the scenery
We’ll all get along
I can feel it in my bones
Just say something now
Say something now.
Down at the Duke of York’s
The peripheral vision is all that I came for
So how long now ’till the lights go up
And the cause/effect concludes the plot?
In your eyes I see it all
To discuss the night’s mise-en-sc’ne
Drunken ballarats
White Russian, I’m happy now
So how long now ’till the lights go out
And will I ever be enough
Enough, my love?
Guess the disorder won the day.
