So tell me nothing matters less or more,
Say whatever we think actions are,
We'll never know what anything was for,
If near is just as far away as far,
And I'm permitted one act I can save,
I choose to sit here next to you and wave.

The Reasons
How I don't know how to sing,

I can barely play this thing,
But you never seem to mind,
And you tell me to fuck off,
When I need somebody to,
How you make me laugh so hard,
How whole years refuse to stay,
Where we told them to back off,
Locked up blindly in a word,
Or a misplaced souvenier,
How the past chews on your shoes,
And these memories lick my ear.

I know,
You might role your eyes at this,
But I'm so,
Glad that you exist.

How we waste our prescious time,
Marching in the picket line,
That surround those striking hearts,
And the time is never now,
And we know who we should love,
But we're never certain how.

I know,
You might role your eyes at this,
But I'm so,
Glad that you exist.

I know,
You might role your eyes at this,
But I'm so,
Glad that you exist.

I know,
You might role your eyes at this,
But I'm so,
Glad that you exist.

Reconstruction Site
Well I'm lost,
I'm afraid,
Rope tied down to a leaky boat,
To the roof of a car on a road in the dark and it's snowing.

If I'm more,
Then it means less,
Last call for happiness,
I'm your dress near the back of your knees and your slip is showing.

I'm a float,
In a summer parade,
Up the street in the town that you were born in,
With the girl at the top wearing tool,
And a Miss Somewhere sash,
Waving like the queen.

Beauty's just another word,
I'm never certain how to spell,
Go tell the nurse to turn the TV back on,
And throw away my misery,
It never meant that much to me,
It never sent a get-well card.

And I broke,
Like a bad joke,
Some bodies' uncle told,
At a wedding reception in 1972.

Where a little boy under a table with cake in his hair,
Stared at the grown-ups feet as they danced and swayed.

And his father laughed and talked on the long ride home.
And his mother laughed and talked on the long ride home.
And he thought about how everyone dies someday.
And when tomorrow gets here where will yesterday be.
And fell asleep in his brand new winter coat.

Buy me a shiny new machine,
That runs on lies and gasoline,
And all those batteries we stole from smoke alarms,
And disassembles my despair,
Never took me anywhere,
It never once bought me a drink.

Psalm For The Elks Lodge Last Call
Let the waitress put the chairs up,

let the glasses that you broke,
form a picture of our leader
with a halo made of smoke.

Let the golden oldies station
crackle and come through.
With a final benediction
we'll hum along to.
Before we say goodnight

Let our talk about the ball game
and the weather show we care.
Like a sound we didn't notice,
until it stopped and left us there.

With the traffic and our heartbeats
beating in straight time,
let our hatred and affection
march in the same line,
Before we say goodnight.

Oh, protect our secret handshake
once more with feeling.
Let the toast to absent members
push through the ceiling.
Before we say goodnight.

Plea From A Cat Named Virtue
Why don’t you ever want to play?
I’m tired of this piece of string
You sleep as much as I do now and you
Don’t eat much of anything
I don’t know who you’re talking to
I’ve made a search through every room
But all I found was dust that moved
And shadows of the afternoon

And listen
About those bitter songs you sing
They aren’t helping anything
They won’t make you strong

So we should open up the house
Invite the tabby two doors down
You can ask your sister if
She doesn’t bring her basset hound
And as for things you shouldn’t miss
Tape hiss and the modern man
Cold war and card catalogues
To come and join us if they can

For girly drinks and parlour games
We’ll pass around the easy lie
Of absolutely no regrets
Then later maybe you could try
To let your losses dangle off
The sharp edge of the century
We’ll talk about the weather or
How the weather used to be

And I’ll cater
With all the birds that I can kill
Let their tiny feathers fill
Disappointment
Lie down
Lick the soil from your skin
Scratch the terror and begin
To believe you’re strong

All you ever want to do is drink and watch TV
Frankly that thing doesn’t really interest me
I swear I’m going to bite you hard
And taste your tinny blood
If you don’t stop the self-defeating lies you’ve been repeating
Since the day you brought me home
I know you’re strong.

Our Retired Explorer
Just one more drink and then I should be on my way home
I'm not enterely sure what your talking about
I've had a really nice time but my dogs need to be fed
I must say that in the right light you look like Shackleton
Comment allez-vous ce soir? Je suis comme ci comme ça
Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica
Oh, I could show you the way shadows colonize snow
Ice breaking up on the bay off the Lassiter coast
Light failing over the pole as every longitude leads
up to your frost bitten feet oh, you're very sweet
thank you for the flowers and the book by Derrida
But I must be getting back to dear Antarctica
Say, do you have a ship and a dozen able men
That maybe you could lend me?

Oh Antarctica
Oh Antarctica
Oh Antarctica
Oh Antarctica

Time's Arrows
So you watch the sunrise sinking, and she's talking in her sleep. A dream of how alone she was tommorrow when you keep all those promises to someone in a mirror you will find at your parents' house in 1989. terrorized by the ruling party: calenders and commas. Small request, could we please turn around? So you whisper your arrival walking backwards to the door. Wonder briefly what it is you're hesitating for. All the streets lie down, deserted in the darkest part of night, to lead you through the evening to the light. Pulled along in thender grip of watched and ellipses. Small request. Could we please turn around?

(Hospital Vespers)
Doctors played your dosage like a card trick. Scrabbled down the hallways yelling Yahtzee. I brought books on Hopper, and the Artic, something called "The Politics Of Lonely," a toothbrush and a quick-pick with the plus. You tried not to roll your sunken eyes and said "Hey can you help me, I can't reach it." Pointed at the camera in the ceiling. I climbed up, blocked it so they couldn't see. Turned to find you out of bed, and kneeling. Before the nurses came, took you away, I stood there on a chair and watched you pray.

One Great City!
late afternoon another day is nearly done
a darker grey is breaking through a lighter one
a thousand sharpened elbows in the underground
that hollow hurried sound of feet on polished floor
and in the dollar store the clerk is closing up
and counting loonies trying not to say
i hate winnipeg

the driver checks the mirror seven minutes late
crowded riders' restlessness enunciates
the guess who suck, the jets were lousy anyway
the same mood every day
and in the turning lane
someone's stalled again
he's talking to himself
and hears the price of gas repeat his phrase
i hate winnipeg

up above us all,
leaning into sky
our golden business boy
will watch the north end die
and sing 'i love this town'
then let his arching wrecking ball proclaim:
"i...hate...winnipeg"

(Past-Due)
February always find you folding local papers open to the faces "passed away," to wonder what they are holding in those hands we're never shown. The places fornal photographs formal photographs refuse to mention. His tiny feet, the birthmark on her knee. The tyranny of framing our attention with all they eyes their eyes no longer see. And darkness comes too early, you won't find the many things you owe these latest dead: a borrowed book, that cheque you didn't sign. The tools to be believed with, beloved. Give what you can: to keep, to comfort this plain fear you can't extinguish or dismiss.