Clearing the Slate

Put away the past
Stand apart from fashion
Take a little breath
Into the new day

Put away your lists
And all the times they’ve named you
And every time you missed
The toll that it would take

I want to do right
I want to be there
I want to be helping
So I’m clearing the slate
For a brand new day

I’ve been nearly blind
Frighteningly nearsighted
Missed too many things
Just beyond my nose

Put away the past
It no longer serves you
You can change your mind
If you can change anything

Go ahead and treat the whole thing
Like it never happened
But if it had, would you expect me
To come around on Sunday’s
Listen to your stories?
Your world’s the same
But my place in it now has changed

Isn’t it time to look at where we stand?
What are you expecting, sitting on your hands?
If you’re waiting for someone to pat you on the back
It’s unlikely now

Still if I have something to say
That has the chance of filling a postcard
It’s hopeful of you to expect me
To sit around doing accounting of
Dreams that have traveled well past me
Your world’s the same
But my place in it now has changed

Are you waiting for someone to pat you on the back
For the sky to open up and offer you a sign
For some great tragedy to open up your eyes
It’s unlikely now

Harry Larry

I can see that you
Had hoped for something more

Than me just warming to
The thought of giving in

I’m wide awake these days
And scared too much of the time

It keeps raining hard
The poor roof holds it’s breath

No candle can compete
When the dogs are wet

Still that worked out just fine
It spite of all my fits and starts

Tonight on the front porch
Downtown in silhouette (Fireworks from a home game)
Yeah I know it’s me getting in the way
And trying not to get in the way

Plastic baby
Meet wet animal

I know it sounds sounds suspect
But I thought I had more time

I can’t help but sometimes feel
A little like a leaky roof

Stand Up

They’ve said all simply
So heartfelt and eloquent
A synthesis of a beautiful life
And though It’s a tragedy
of the first degree
I know you better now
I love you better now

Stand up Be counted
We wont say goodbye (It’s the best we can do)
Well just say Thank you ( It’s all we can do for you)

So here I am racking
My brain for a memory
The one where I feel
Closest to you
And though it is futile
A mere deflection
I don’t know you better now
I don’t love you better now

Time is a burden
A murderous tyrant
Perfectly evidenced
By this awful day
I wish I’d saved
A little more
To know you better now
To love you better now

Sour Grapes

I am not the same
I wish that I had more to say
About the man that I became
When your eyes were turned away
(And you were hopeful on my behalf)

I will not complain
It would just sound like sour grapes
Still when I hear those children sing
I both mourn and cringe concurrently

But now I do digress
I should try to stay on point
But is it not obvious
That I’ve little idea what the point is?

How many times today?
Not enough
And very possibly
Not at all

Is this a day dream
Or a full blown fantasy?
Now the snow is falling hard
And we’re rushing from the plant into the car

Not dissimilar
To dream that defined me
But instead of getting somewhere
This one’s more a change of scenery

I am not the same
I wish that I had more to say
About the man that I became
When your eyes were turned away

Still, I will not complain
It would just sound like sour grapes
Or arrogance at best
Anyway, what did I expect?

Sliver of Light

Post log
Aftermath
Notches up
Notches down
Are all you have

It’s pure
A polygraph
Your history dissolves
Into chicken scratch

Waiting on a fickle sun
A warm spot
A sliver of light
Is it going to come?

It’s gone now
Out of your hands
Said as if at some point
It was in your hands