Poems and hello from Hungary

Otis Redding, you give me the blues

Coffee
some sugar
a wee sip of milk
Smokey sound silence
gray lips of silk
cover my face
with dissolving kisses
This is my place
She is my Mrs.
whispering wishes
through the echoes
of chatter
She is the one
I shouldn't have
met her

'Cause
she won't return
the years that I lent her
Read these thoughts
my mind is for
rent, girl

Aging beer stain
bored on the couch
Stand strong
in sheer vain
but I'm bound
to crouch
under the weight
of my vacant heart
Cold meals of truth
overfeeding my art

But this song
won't return
the hours I lent her
Read between the lines
my mind is for
rent, girl

Cheeks and wine
crimson from
date stress
Windows in love
with the smoking
waitress
Will anyone notice
I give before
getting?
Can't set them apart
like Otis
and Redding



Until you run out of matches


I tried to count all the nights I spent alone
but stopped since silence says more
than numbers
A woman's a needle, a dream's a balloon,
but the air itself is full of wonders

So unless you hold me I'll walk on thin air
Eat my words while growing thinner
Hope's my coffee, grief's my dinner
You need me like a book a sinner

I tried to count all the cigarettes I smoked,
but then instead just bought a hard pack
to slow down the blood for a heart that
beats way too fast on my sleeve

We'll never arrive, be ready to leave
and burn until you run out of matches
I stir my coffee, the tobacco catches on fire
It never clears, the smoke is a liar

So unless you hold me I'll walk on thin air
Eat my words while growing thinner
Hope's my coffee, grief's my dinner
You need me like a book a sinner


And morning came

White flags wave to independence
on the marble arch of the fourth of July
Drew first blood in the last dance
Oh, how I wish I knew that you lied
about waltzing through wars with a hallelujah
But you don't care for music, do you?

My open arms a broken throne
and your crown of brass just lacks the queen
Fooled me with your golden tone
and left me drags of self-esteem
to kneel down before your hallelujah
But if I did, what's it to you?

A dove's holy ashes sink into tar
to become a dueling pistol for lovers
and cut the chords of a singing guitar
A queen's a woman without followers
and my tongue is tied without your hallelujah
Baby, how I thought I knew you

I pray every night to the Lord of Song
to lift my spirit and free your mind
Your heart is deaf, my soul is wrong
How could I have been so blind
when I saw your moonlight shine like hallelujah
and morning came and overthrew you


cell phone diaries

Are you hiding on the backstreets,
like a hero from a Springsteen song?
I can't recall my last dreams,
but it must've been you,
I can't be wrong.

Are your evenings bright and solitary,
watchin' a movie, smokin' like Bogart?
I'm too young, babe, to be weary,
and I age with each tick
louder than your heart.

Are you wandering in cathedrals of vanity,
praying for rags to cover the holes?
It's a symmetric insanity:
what makes them empty,
fills up their souls.

Sugar, are your bones made of irony,
is your skin thick like Brando's leather?
Love's a getaway car,
so why don't we go for a ride,
once and forever?



The more I know of love

Monochrome mornings and a chain smoker's lungs
make me feel like a private detective
Following crooks to whom my heart belongs
knowing that angels are always deceptive

You're my highway on these dark noir nights
the engine roars like a rock and roll anthem
If one of us left, we wouldn't take no rights
with the handbrake on, an interstate phantom

I've become a man despite Kitty Collins
she was singing of love, her voice Ava Gardner's
But the devil was behind her pretty callings
and I was double-crossed by my own partners

4 AM coffee at a small town gas station
the radio says someone got shot
and out of the grief a sudden sensation
you'll bring it on home to rewrite the plot

I haven't quit drinking to get a wider view
on unsolved cases and bloodstained files
Concrete lips in a ride powder blue
dark descended at broad daylight

Waves of hangover down at the pier
reading your letter by a postcard sunset
You used to say it's a bliss to disappear
so bring on your curse, and someday come back

I don’t know where you are tonight
But remembering takes me there
I’ve never trusted what’s too bright
So let’s forget in case we care

You were reading Hungarian similes
And as the mood was constantly changing
I’ve learned that it’s the silence that reveals
Making small talk more engaging

I’ll carry on if you leave tomorrow
Keep travelling with empty bags
I’ve never felt free to steal or borrow
From the ghosts that lurk in every past

Nicknames

Doll, I was frozen for
playing with moonlight
but my reflection melted
through the ice
I just let go what’s been too tight
Now I close my eyes when we roll the dice

If you were a song, babe,
I’d put you on repeat
And if this was a book,
I’d keep it by my bedside
We won’t always get what we need
But we might rise up in a landslide

Darling, I’ve never met
anyone so selfless
You’re like the friendship
of a cat and an owl
If you played house,
I could be your last guest
‘Cause that cats and owls
can get along

Baby, I swear it’s been years
since I’ve opened a bottle of wine
Solitary men live like lone wolves
But it takes two to be
one of a kind
And we’ve met in this cycle
with no pause

Honey, you’re so sweet
like a birthday cake
and the only thing sour
is the lemon in your tea
Sails take you away, but first they break
And now I’m prepared for weathering
your sea

Sugar, these tattoos colored
my curses
But I’ve longed for the shade
of your aquamarine blessing
If we’re looking forward,
the blind tide reverses
And naked confessions
keep us undressing


What’s yours is mine

My heart was a soldier
avoiding trenches
Then I was told it’s not a war
Like mountaintops waiting for
avalanches
We can’t be saved from
wanting more

Your heart is a manger,
isn’t it, Mary?
But I’m not the type
to crucify
And I might be a visionary
so if you’re using me
then use me right

My heart is a pilgrim
believing that your comet
will take me to the upper room
And that’s what I’ve
always wanted
to be sky-bound for a rendezvous

Does your heart have
a hideout
where secrets retreated
to shelter the treasure
I’ve found?
Separation was what we needed
to see the Sun with the lights out

A heart is a thief
giving what’s been taken
from storybook endings
and lovers’ rooms
But beliefs need to be forsaken
and it’s not worth living
by others’ rules