New Orleans

 You won’t find her in the science

The way her body moves

How she reacts to the violence

She sways with the groove

And dances in silence

With nothing to prove

Her bones ache from the age

The noise that she makes

Sound effects of her rage

And on the rainiest days

The levee breaks

Here comes the waves

Her lights never dim

Parade through the streets

Tomorrow the festival begins

But tonight she sleeps

Tonight she sleeps

She sleeps with me

Came the storm of the century

Then her spirits awoke

As the flood of her memories

More than darkness evoked

Took what's left of her treasury

Gone up in smoke

Ooooh, oh

We feast and we sin

Before we taste the ashes

We dance and we sing

As the hurricane crashes

But down to our bones

We can feel the sting

Oh, we feel that sting

Her lights never dim

Parade through the streets

Tomorrow the festival begins

But tonight she sleeps

Tonight she sleeps

She sleeps with me

Tonight she sleeps

When the city sleeps

She dreams like I dream

When the city weeps

Scream like I scream

The lights never dim

Parade through the streets

Tomorrow the festival begins

But tonight she sleeps

Tonight she sleeps

Tonight she sleeps

She sleeps with me

Burn

I don't have a face for the screen

I don't have a voice for the stage

I can't play the keys or the strings

But the pen in my hand is a blaze

The words in my head gasoline

One spark is all that it takes

To engulf every page in the flames

So Burn

Burn, baby, burn

I need to feel the heat

Burn, baby, burn

Let that fire reach the peak

Burn, baby, burn

Burn it all away

This average man in the street

Now, this ain't the screen for my face

This ain't the stage for my voice

Please grant me a molecule of grace

This might’ve been my only choice

The pen in my hand pleads my case

The thoughts in my head they escape

One star is all that it takes

To defeat the darkness of space

So Burn

Burn, baby, burn

I need to feel the heat

Burn, baby, burn

Let that fire reach the peak

Burn, baby, burn

Burn it all away

This average man in the street

If my face wasn’t built for the screen

Does that mean I must remain unseen

If my voice doesn’t ring for the stage

Does that mean I’ve got nothing to say

When the words in my head need to bleed

the pen in my hand is the blade

So Burn

Burn, baby, burn

I need to feel the heat

Burn, baby, burn

Let that fire reach the peak

Burn, baby, burn

So burn

Burn, baby, burn

Burn it all away

This average man in the street

Senseless

 Cover my eyes

let the blind lead the blind

I would follow my heart

but it left me behind

Or the sound of your voice

if you would be so kind

could guide me home

be there to find

But here I am

fumbling and stumbling around

Feeling defenseless

crumbling and mumbling sounds

Leaving me senseless

Cover my ears

I don't want to hear it again

I would follow my heart

But it drove me insane

For the touch of your skin

if you wouldn't hold me to blame

could guide me home

rekindle the flame

But here I am

fumbling and stumbling around

Feeling defenseless

crumbling and mumbling sounds

Leaving me senseless

Cover my mouth

So i can never say the words

I would follow my heart

but I can't repair the hurt

That forced you to make the choice

to leave me in the dirt

fumbling and stumbling around

Feeling defenseless

crumbling and mumbling sounds

Leaving me senseless

fumbling and stumbling around

Feeling defenseless

crumbling and mumbling sounds

Leaving me senseless

Recover my heart

Help me feel gaian

Only you can fix the parts

and make sense of the senseless

The Impossible, by Amory McKeever

All my apologies

we chose this mission

we never stood a chance

a reaction so classified

two reckless hearts

bound to collide

We tell no one

take it to our graves

bury me with secrets

deep under covers

the killer sweetness

that our bodies crave

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

There's a reason

we haven't been speaking

every moment we savor

stolen from somewhere

or hidden from someone

but that's not fair

Because love is dangerous

when it becomes a weapon

paves the road to hell

with dreams of heaven

and the enemy hides in

unspoken bombshells

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

Just moments away

from exposing the truth

it's our feelings we betray

and I just can't approve

won't simply move on

that seems so cliché

We know where it's leading

So I'll self destruct

give in to the pain

and as I lay bleeding

do me a favor

burn this after reading

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I went chasing the impossible

and this is where it led

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

I pulled your words around my neck

and hung myself on what you said

Call me crazy

crazy

Call me crazy but I didn't plan this far ahead

That Sinking Feeling, by Amory McKeever

(image by nonparanoid.deviantart)

At least the water isn't fake

It can be touched, it can be tasted

It smells of the Salton Sea

and like that faulted little lake

the one that shakes your reality

you get swallowed by the quake

At least the water tells the truth

It doesn't let you up for air

just to steal away your youth

It won't shower you with compliments

and build upon your confidence

while secretly the opposite

the whole time you're being used

I remember when we were dreaming

the sun was bright above the surface

now this darkness makes me nervous

I remember when we were dreaming

our lives were so much better

than this sinking feeling

At least the water doesn't lie

It doesn't fill your lungs

then pretend that you have time

It won't swell up inside your chest

wearing a smile and a dress

taking your last breath

but not kind enough to let you die

At least the water is honest

It won't put your faith in a future

then reveal itself a false prophet

She said you couldn't live without her

and hook and line you bought it

so when you're signing your farewell

this is exactly what she promised

I remember when we were dreaming

the sun was bright above the surface

now this darkness makes me nervous

I remember when we were dreaming

our lives were so much better

than this sinking feeling

The Lycan, by Amory McKeever

Odin and Fenris (1909) by Dorothy Hardy

Who wins is the one he feeds

The gentleman or the beast

The calm and quiet surface

Or the tempest underneath

Though a noble sets the table

A darker half looks to feast

And the man that is consumed

Will be the one we need

No matter how hard he tries

Or however long he hides it

There's a desperate force inside

Scratching and clawing

Howling and gnawing

Until he can't deny it

This mask wearing thin

Pretends to be a mortal man

Yet wilding under the skin

Its hunger that bites the hand

Destroyed from the outside in

Still they'll never understand

It's the prize he cannot win

He can never be the plan

No matter how hard he tries

Or however long he hides it

There's a desperate force inside

Scratching and clawing

Howling and gnawing

Until he can't deny it

The monster wants to pull it

Shed that façade like a suit

Slither from that frail knit

And take his place at the root

His feral personality split

Now becomes the master brute

With no hope or silver bullets

The wolf who ate is absolute

Breaking Point, by Amory McKeever

This is not my first time

in fact I wish it was the last

Honestly it never ends well

though I'm having such a blast

Alive again with a racing heart

a smile that can warm the sun

Spinning my wheels and I'm ready to start

counting trophies that I haven't won

To feel this way just once

would be enough to wear me out

yet there's no way I want to fall asleep

and I am pleading from the mouth

As quiet as I possibly can

I whisper the message in your ear

Something I've never said before

something only your soul can hear

This won't be the first time

not even the second or the third

I've been down this path before

where the lines are broke and blurred

Sinking again with a breaking mind

a pain that could dim the sun

something that takes a hundred lifetimes to find

was found and lost all in one

To feel this way just once

would be enough to sell me out

but the price is much more steep

and I am bleeding from the mouth

As loud as I possibly can

I say exactly what I mean

when you're slipping through my hands

I'm trying hard not to scream

***