Memories are Vampires 

I remember the cold lines that smell so humble now

Soaked in the kerosene of arrogance, burned my city to the sound

Of freedom sparked fireworks and celebration crowns

Outstanding corporate achievements, but I am so much younger now 

Burned in the ant hill, trying to assimilate, hungry to succeed

Finding an avenue, all I found was greed

Hours in the pipeline, what did the man then do

Cancelation of employment the whole world saw us sued 

Obstruction of justice, now who stands the fool?

The difference between ethics and a well legislated rule

I saw the bald head of Ebenezer Scrooge

Push a paper for a new job to salvage my manhood in a noose  

Yoke me to a gum tree, good-for-nothing balls

Spiked to a thorn bush, I saw the poverty stalls

Cattle in the pasture, hungrier then hell

Selling government water, only a tonic salesman can sell  

I saw the hug-boy housemates grinding in the back

I saw the ketamine stickers shoot up in the racks

Gunning for a first child; I put my faith in you

Storming on the back porch, I saw the path to choose 

Found a pink blanket knitted, softer than sheen

Hurricane waters brought us soaking to our knees

Had the sense for praying like a stratosphere of views

Who knew Texas would leave you crying to be a martyr for your youth 

Crouched up in the horse stall, bolting from a gate

Not the sense to run from the monster in the cage

Lay so sweetly to me; I hardly remember the phrases now

Crimped scuba tank-line, choking in a crowd 

Mothers keep on talking, no one sees the sight

Children convulse profusely, blockaded by the sunshine 

Grumbling like a gremlin, thrashing in your eyes

I saw the thunder rolling like a Garth Brooks song suicide

Country living grandeur, holy-holy hell

God came down before me and sold my soul to sell  

Talent for a dollar, modern-war exchange

You got my faith.  I got a payment plan for rage.

Brilliant politician; children on the take

I remember the cold lines and the Baltimore rain  

Perfect blue buildings shinning screens of smiles

I remember desk files and porches done with esoteric style

Daddy’s exercises, mother’s cigarettes

Placated arguments, smoking to a colloquial two-step  

Carving up the carcass in our room all by myself

I saw the floor boards melting like a bubble-footed hell

I put my face there, pasted to the planks

I saw the angels coming, looked like vampires with prison shanks 

Keep the house quiet, dormant like a deer

Keep the headlights high-beam, starring before the veer

Run-over dumbfound, man lay lame

Talking to the spirits of the oldest rooted names  

I saw children dying; I saw love gone suicide

I saw the lawyer monsters; I saw nowhere on the inside

I would let them eat me; if only for the end

Oblivion is better than having to remember you were once my friend  

I see the town on fire; like a candle of riot stemmed

Police came up with the shakedown to remind me who are friends

I saw my employer cut me from the ranks of the esteemed

I saw the wood-paneling slap me, keep me on my knees  

I tended to the garden, watered her to grow

Flowers bloom just long enough for her to know

Maybe daddy’s got to, find a soil home

Roots and transfusions, blood types can’t take the cold  

Vampire meals wandering, vagabond’s pursuit of truth

Always leaves one guessing at the fermented drunkenness of youth

She can keep her friends here, stitched all through the Earth

I will be a picture piped across a computer like a rocket man universe 

She can call my replacement, as if he were the word

I will do what I can to find soil for this worm

Aerate the break lines, where a normal man can breathe

Oh, here comes the flood, evacuate to the sunshine, see Icarus bear the bleeds 

I remember the cold lines that smell so humble now

Soaked in the kerosene of arrogance, burned my city to the sound

Of freedom sparked fireworks and celebration crowns

Outstanding corporate achievements, but I am so much younger now 

Now this new man gives me stories, a salesman on the move

Pimp for a monopoly, poor pockets for the dues

Never ending stories of always with the catch

Caught my dreamer dreaming rip out that monster’s breath  

Hope is for the heartfelt, those capable of love

I remember the cold lines, before the organ became none

Nothing but a blank space, no kindle for the hearth

No anger for the armies, just a logical scientific mark  

Romance for the childish, sniper-shot trapeze acrobats

Thud to the circus-floor for attempting hands would catch

Tigers eat the bodies cheaper than the bill

Funerals need attendees or a eulogist to spill  

Factoids or agendas, minutia for a sigh

Rather see the cauldron, incinerate clouded eyes

Memories are vampires stalking in the day

Promised weakness laughable, crucifix dismayed  

You can call me nameless, marching in the crowd

You can cut me shameless, about who killed the cows

Carnivore or Vegan titles don’t matter much

Blame is for the angels and they are with Santa in the months  

Of holiday obsession for you and redwood spruce

Held up in the attic with circumvented truths

I just want a restart, a reroute out this mess

I keep taking phone calls and fear sleeps with the stress  

My heart attack is coming; I know I will die young

Not because you hurt me, but because I cannot love 

Nothing will work in there, not a machine or an excuse

Nothing will deliver me another man’s youth  

Replace the wrinkles with another’s memories

These drain me daily like Cinderella at the ball

She had a man give her the pumpkin coach and rodent-steeds of four

Except before midnight tolled, royalty chose another before  

She even got there, like a transplant memory

I wish we never danced and I was lonely with my dreams

Then I could be alone; for the first time in years

Just me and my despair, my beautiful loneliness

No masochistic sashay partner or a beaded attic dress

Just nothing and no one and the potential for happiness