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Ground
In Metarie and Covington
Ones I love lay in the ground
Gonna visit them again
Leave this droning plain
You sang your songs for everyone
Told me as the light grew dim
You’d go with me to Metarie
Sing songs make stories
Tornados raged through Illinois
Memphis was the turning point
But New Orleans was something else
Resonated in our deeper selves
Dixie Beer and Early Times
Heat and sweat and reading signs
Twenty-four miles ‘cross the causeway
Saturday or someday
In Metarie and Covington
Planted something in the ground
Time to go back there again
Leave this frozen plane behind
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Gone Too Far
Pack up your beauty
Pack up your inspirations
Secrets and mysteries
Affections and revelations
In a box by the back door
Close enough to grab on your way to the car
When it’s gone too far
Beer clocks in barrooms
The calendar on the café wall
They won’t lie to you
But they don’t care at all
Holes in the drywall
Size of a fist, shape of a heart
Say it’s gone too far
Some things cannot stay
In a box too long
It’s not about light or air
It’s just wrong
It’s not the distance
It’s about losing who you are
Gone too far
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Another Day
It’s not time to go home yet
There’s still half a glass of beer
Sitting right here
And one or two people I haven’t met
Where to go if I can’t stay here
My cars so cold
I should stay off the road (for a while)
And home is nowhere near
Would you come if I called you
On the phone right now
And told you that I can’t be alone right now
We’ve got a lot to lose
But come to me
Keep me company
The only car on the highway
The eastern sky
Hints at light and
So ends another day
I’m not the son of an old man
There’s no sage
No wisdom of age
To help me fix my plan
Would you come if I called you
On the phone right now
And told you that I can’t be alone right now
We’ve got a lot to lose
But come to me
Keep me company
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Shut Down
Woke semi-sober at 4 a.m.
Went to the garage to check for dents
On my car but it wasn’t there
Hope I had the sense to leave it somewhere
And it’s not in a ditch or impound lot
Being inspected by a gungho cop
Finding blood and hair on the grill
From someone or something I wounded or killed
I shut down the saloon
Shut down the thoughts of you
Shut down the years of abuse
Shut down the shame and confusion
Shut down the hard truths
They’ll never let me loose
Someday I might be a better man
He’ll face the pain better than I can now
More moving forward into the storms
Fewer retreats to the familiar and warm
But today I need to shut it all down
So I drink enough to drown
Still I don’t want to wreck your day
If you see me you should go the other way
I shut down the saloon
Shut down the thoughts of you
Shut down the years of abuse
Shut down the shame and confusion
Shut down the hard truths
I shut down the saloon
Shut down the thoughts of you
Shut down the years of abuse
Shut down the shame and confusion
Shut down the hard truths
They’ll never let me loose
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For Everyone Especially You
I’m sorry that it hurts so bad, I love you
I’m sorry that it hurts so bad, I love you
I’m sorry that it hurts so bad, hmmmmmmm
I will leave the light on, I love you
I’m sorry you were all alone, I love you
I’m sorry you were all alone, I love you
I’m sorry you were all alone, hmmmmmmm
I will make you dinner, I love you
I’m sorry you feel hopeless, I love you
I’m sorry you feel hopeless, I love you
I’m sorry you feel hopeless, hmmmmmmm
I have hope for you, I love you
I’m sorry that I let you down, I love you
I’m sorry that I let you down, I love you
I’m sorry that I let you down, hmmmmmmm
I will do better, I love you
It’s not your fault, I love you
It’s not your fault, I love you
It’s not your fault, hmmmmmmm
I will stay beside you, I love you
I’m sorry you are gone, I love you
I’m sorry you are gone, I love you
I’m sorry you are gone, hmmmmmmm
I will bring you flowers, I love you
I'm sorry, I love you
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I Wish I Remembered You
I wish I remembered you
I wish that it all rang true
The pictures you’ve showed me
The stories you’ve told me
From back when I knew what you knew
But I know I like your face
And I can tell by the way your voice breaks
You feel something for me
Strong and deep
That must have come from someplace
That I wish I remembered
I know I get angry at times
Things that I say make you cry
These lies in my head
Should stay unsaid
Sometimes they slip by
But there’s a ring on my left hand
That looks like a wedding band
Did you put it there
A veil on your hair
In front of our families and friends
That I wish I remembered
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Wake Me Up
Wake me up
From this sad sad scene
Whatever it takes
Ice cubes or amphetamines
Tell me something
You’ve never told me before
Something from your heart
Or just a good joke
Nothing can save me now
But is there one more moment
Pull me back
For one more moment
If I could
I would tell you I’m sorry
I always loved you
Never wanted you to worry
There’s a ticket stub
Well-worn in my wallet
Kept it all these years
Take it if you want it
Nothing can save me now
But is there one more moment
Pull me back
For one more moment
Voices break like light
Through a crack in the drapes
Is there really anything
Left to say
Nothing can save me now
But is there one more moment
Pull me back
For one more moment
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After The Funeral
After the funeral
The coffee and the lemonade
Aunts and uncles smoking in the shade
Buttered ham bun sandwiches
And sheet cake
After the funeral
Butchering the jokes you told
Stories supposed to be meaningful
Silent, awkward, hugs
Meant to console
The priest drank all the wine
The people left when it was gone
The church is dark
Except for the exit signs
After the funeral
Boxing clothes bound for Goodwill
Sorting treasures from landfill
Separating the shadows
From the wall
I drank all the wine
Watching the sun sink in the ground
The house is dark
Except for the lights I left on
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The Wind
You were here just now
I could tell
From the way the wind moved
And the air felt
Were you just checking in?
Did you have something to say to me?
Was there something on your mind?
Something you wanted to see?
I don’t look for you
Like I used to
I don’t think so much
About that last year or two
I still leaf through your records
Sometimes I’ll put one on
And dance alone in the sunroom
With all the curtains drawn
Sometimes the wind is just the wind
Sometimes a chill is just a chill
Sometimes I feel low
When the air is still
You were here just now
I could tell
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Independence City Limits
Independence city limits
Passing through for just a minute
Long enough to see your house
And remember why you're not in it
Drive too fast on the dirt roads
Pay no mind to signs or potholes
Truck coming from the south
Police report says it never even slowed
I never heard your dad laugh again
Stayed drunk almost to the end
The life he got
Not the life that should have been
I see ghosts in your front yard
Your mom looks good, she didn’t live so hard
Kids in a game of wiffle ball
You me and her are playing cards
I heard she went around the bend
That your sisters were raised by her friends
The life they got
Not the life that should have been
Remember we’d go down to the river
Wonder why we never jumped in
Was it too fast, too deep, too dark
Did we know how to swim?
Black top ends, turns to gravel
Phone lines strung with fishing tackle
It’s quiet now on the bridge
A good place to unravel
Wrote letters never sent
Vowed to visit never went
The life we got
Not the life that should have been
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Sleep Well
No one will sleep well tonight
Don’t even bother closing your eyes
This house is on fire
I hear the sirens
Singing goodbye, goodbye
The needle is skipping in the center
Of the record you put on
An hour ago
When you wanted to hear something
Brooding and slow
Now where did the time go to
Where did it go?
No one will sleep well tonight
Don’t even bother closing your eyes
This house is on fire
I hear the sirens
Singing goodbye, goodbye
Maybe four fingers of whisky
Is all that you needed
The fuel to feed
The internal combustion
Of freedom and lust and
Cognition of us and
The sweetness
No one will sleep well tonight
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