EPs:
On Time Spent Waiting, or Placing the Weight of the World on the Shoulders of Those You Love the Most
Format: 7″
Release Date: 10/11/11
The Only One Who Could Ever Reach You
the smell of salt hangs in the air
heavy and pregnant with tears
how could i have ever have thought i could call this place home
(where a sea of concrete swallows everything)
so while you paced the floor of our apartment
(a prison for two months still)
i was forcing conversation and not fitting in
dear, there is no shame in cutting all of our losses!
let the whole damn coast fall in
Everything Familiar Has Disappeared! The World Looks Brand-new!
i was wrong, you were not bigger than this
and long before i was baltimore bound
you had changed- your heart was not in it
and the fewer words that tied your hands to this, the better
cut all ties off, and retreat to your father’s house!
but i think it’ll feel the same no matter where you are
so even if i had wanted you to stay
it wouldn’t have changed anything
anyway, if even time couldn’t sober you up
than i feel sorry for you
When You Are Done Living on Borrowed Time
we slept by the ottoman
autumn rushing to our ears
(a symphony of leaves kissing leaves kissing leaves)
this time last year, you were a ghost,
trapped in your room and spanning the length of your bed to your door
like it was the atlantic
what a difference a year makes!
steadier footing and a new place
to lay your head down
I Would Have Stolen You a Whole Orchestra
you carry all your weight-
tightly stretched across your face,
like evidence or proof that everything aged you
i measured steady breaths
(afraid of truth, or of being rebuked),
“what horrible things cling to you?”
i did not expect to get an answer at all
or for your to let your guard down
but either a ghost or a sigh escaped you
your color fled, though your resistance would not be moved
you said, “when you have given so much, so little remains.
like a wound that will never heal, all that’s left is to wait”
Home After Three Months Away
Format: 7″
Label: Stiff Slack
The Loneliness Inside Me Is a Place
will all my twenties find me so guarded?
littered and documented by meticulous word choice and closed lips
to read like:
all things bear this-
a purpose! or romance!
but the truth is much more complicated than that
and i am still trying to learn how time is a gift
(as much as it is a burden)
Water
last night, i dreamt the old, sea foam green paint
in the room my brother and i once shared
was swallowing up the walls again
(a forest of latex reclaiming acres of land)
you were there too!
swimming in your father’s army jacket and sprawled across my floor
like an arm of the sea separating the rest of the world from you and me
when i woke, the first thing i checked were the walls-
still dressed like new in a brown sugar coat
and you were still beside me
your face was warm and flushed with sleep
i am trying so hard not to take this all for granted
so you do not stir, i lay back down quietly
hands nestled or anchored just behind the small of your back
Everything Rests on Your Small Shoulders
i remember when you thought you found god
painted a cross on your forehead
and wandered around my backyard like a saint
or a shepherd tending to his flock
the irony was not lost on me
and for all your newfound love
you still seemed like a bastard
then, you carried on like all the world was yours
to pity and to teach and comfort
(as if because, somehow, you forgave yourself,
that all your terrible deeds have been undone)
I Swim like a Minnow
you bobby-pinned your auburn hair back,
as we crossed over the washington state line in my grandfather’s car
we were fleeing the scene of a california coast line,
where we buried our dreams among the gridlock and concrete
barefoot, we pulled off the road, and stepped into the summer night
and we drank greedily of greenery and open air
this was not the time or place to address
the emptiness that hung around us
or how the end of this trip birthed us with uncertainty
of what to do next
Year of the Rabbit
Release Date: 2/19/08
Format: 7″
Label: Count Your Lucky Stars
