Bonus Poetry That Was In Selection for the Album, But Didn't Become Music (2023)

WRITING EMOTIONS

All of these emotions--

I could let them pass

But instead, I've learned to capture,

They will not be my masters

I put ink to page

I purge out all of my pain,

And my blistering hate--

They will not be my captors

And when it's all out

I look up, look around--

There's only light here

My beloved is my safety

Those monsters can't get me

Only words on a page

Passing into the ages--

Not forgotten, just enslaved

In typographic cages

THE GOAL

As long as I belong here

You'll consume my mind

Held against the glow

Up against my body

Vast infinite time

Gently, oh my soul

What's beyond the ages?

Can I bathe in your liquid gold eternally?

Never wanting more

Everything's fulfilled now

You call us "The Goal"

BLUE

I didn't see the red flags

Was in over my head

So in love I felt that

There could be no wrong here

Forced down any rogue fears

I knew I belonged here

I justified my tears

Said If I didn't cry that meant I didn't care

I sat beneath the trees

He likes me wild and likes my wild hair

I came to much too late

Covered in wounds and all covered in you

Now it's just part of me to be this blue

I'm still processing lies

And largely undecided

How much fault do I bear?

The choices were appalling

Should have made of me an offering

Would have been the same thing

I boldly soldiered on

Cuz if I didn't try that meant I wasn't strong

I saw the whole thing through

Cuz in my mind there flashed pictures of you

My God, you're what I want

And all of your promises and all of your taboo

Now it's just part of me to be this blue

SWORN SECRECY

Whether I go 

Or whether I follow you down to the water

To be swept away in your dreamscapes...

Is that so?

I'm hearing you tell me how you want me to be

I get my feelings high too easily.

I know I said I want this but I'm scared now

You always had a way of pushing me

And I've got as many stories to fall as I've got to tell

I'd be screaming them out as I fell

But I'm sworn to secrecy now

Your little fable

DARLENE

Darlene does whatever she wants to

She paints the world in hues of blue

Sinks ships in her whirlpools of "truths"

She's tailored hoping to keep you

And you fell for it every time

Drunk on her blood red wine

Darlene seemed to be a world away

Til crashing through the walls she came

And swore to God that she will stay

If you make everything her way

And you fell for it every time

Drunk on her blood red wine

What's it like to love a monster?

Don't you see how much she haunts you?

Or has she taken out your eyes?

Isn't life a little scary

Never knowing, always wary

'Cause she'll take you by surprise!

I'm not saying you should run

But oh my God, it isn't fun 

To watch you scramble for your life

It's not my fight

But this isn't right

IN THE AFTER

Lights, lights!

Brightest lights!

I'll meet you in the after

If God condemns you 

And maketh me an angel

I'll snip snip snip my wings

Snip snip snip

US

We sit in the shade of each other's souls

No need to speak, just breathe and hold

And be

The nights are cold, the water is rough

But here we are, the two of us

I'll be with you even in the dark

From dawn to sun to dusk to dust