Toll roads ahead.

Passed by a crossroads
I did not change direction
Decided to wait for the next one
The road underfoot wrong but comfortable will suffice for now
I've chewed my nails away and everything hurts to the touch
I've been here before
I'll wait again
For another path
Another pass
Another clearing
Forward march for now
My wounds will heal
Probably
My eyes will always find another way
Maybe
I just need to stay sharp for now
Listen for the doors behind me locking shut as the doors in front of me open wide
I know I cannot go back
Anymore
I know another path will show itself soon
Maybe
Another chance will be given without consequence
Right?

Seven

In the pain we shared
We are forever changed and connected
Never will I see you the same
A loving appreciation in the worst of times
All together until we separate from the natural path
One by one we'll watch each other fall into the final sleep
Who will be left for last is yet to be seen but none will last forever
The circle will come to close while the world turns regardless
Another group born
Another link made and experienced
Long life and laughs shared until time takes its toll in full
Another weeping day
Another sunset unseen and unappreciated.
But not today
Today we force normality and fight the days
The green outside seems dim and blurry
The drives seem longer and unbearable
Every moment left to thoughts seem to end in one place on that same face
Tomorrow scary and inevitable bring some comfort but not quite yet.

Machinery.

He wondered why his blood shot eyes.
He wondered why the time.
He wondered why the rain outside.
He wondered why the plants and trees.
He wondered why the dark.
He wondered why the obscured sky.
The moon?
He wondered why the sun.
He wondered why the job.
The objects laying.
The places to sit.
The shapes.
The shadows.
The light.
The cigarette stains the fingers.
The horribly good scent.
A film coating the inside of a water glass empty.
An electric buzz.
The tattered table leans.
What's even?
The faint hissing ring hear.
The dull fullness of bodily functions functioning.
The blur.
The pressure of bones and skin and meat.
The colors and sound and feelings no longer on speaking terms.
The realization a disconnection.
A jigsaw mirror hand me down.
The hands no longer know the face and the feet know nothing.
He wondered why the shine.
He wondered why the screen.
He wondered why the wonder.
Why was it?
He wondered.

Harbor

I can't seem to focus.
I can't meet your expectations.
I find myself staring into light trying to burn away your disappointed face.
I'll never understand your ability to attack strangers for such insignificant actions.
I'm left forcefully sinking into orangey incandescence seeking escape through a childs dream.
A place built of memories to sit and hide while you ruin all that you touch.
Unfortunately your face and sound will forever swirl around the inside of my head even though I will never see you again.
This is expected.
Those memories become harder to reach as time goes by and blindness may be all that replaces satisfaction.
There's no place left to run and hide.

Linger

The setting sun pushed away the gray clouds and let in a few lasting minutes of sunlight before welcoming the purple darkness.

A mild night of scattered clouds let loose the bright stars floating in a midnight blue murk.
A night the wind could claim for it's own.

An instabilty we're becoming so used to now.

No snow

No cold

No knowing what tomorrow will bring.

Fall, Spring and Winter all seem to be jockeying for the same seat in a game of musical chairs.
The music has stopped but neither of them wants to make the first move.

The onlookers can't bare to watch and can't find the exit.

Will the grass be green tomorrow or lay dying under a foot of snow?
Will my body catch up to the ever changing climates and confused seasons?

It's so hard to feel the comfort of a season nearing it's end when you're not even sure if it's actually begun.

The uncomfortable darkness outside breeds bad feelings and makes suspicious the buzzing tubes illuminating the indoors.
All these shadows seem fabricated.

The windows like mirrors reflect back the animals trapt inside.

Is that me in the wall?

Does anyone else see this?

We're just frowns passing by breathing the day away.
Who's a friend when chit chat is all you hear and outside confusion lingers like poison gas.

Purgatory

The sun singed the ambiguous sky as another day fizzled away wasted.
The lack of cold burns more than the actual frost not covering the landscape.
Though long dead some leaves cling to the branches haunting the wind as it pushes through them and hisses between the confused bare trees.
What should be a Winter silence is actually a cacophony of left behind birds and leaves blowing in the wind and rustling about on the uncovered ground still being pounded by the bustle of people wandering around ignorant to the lack of a season or the terrible cold yet to come.
The endless shadows pour on me from all directions leaving my mind in an abyss.
I look to the deep blue sky for absolution but find only the blinding rays waiting for me.
How long do we have to wait before the brittle cold finds us?
How long before Spring warms the ground again and allows us outside?
With no transition in sight it's impossible to foresee the end of season that has yet to begin.

Tom Waits Music Hour

A one hour radio show featuring Tom Waits.

Track List:

Misery is the river of the world-Blood Money
Starving in the belly of the whale- Blood money
Jesus gonna be here- Bone Machine
I don't wanna grow up- Bone Machine
Old Shoes- Closing Time
Lucinda/Ain't going down- Glitter and Doom Live
Chocolate Jesus- Mule Variations
Intro to eggs and sausage- Nighthawks at the Diner
Eggs and sausage- Nighthawks at te Diner
Tom Traubert's Blues- Small Change
Step Right up- Small Change
The Earth Died Screaming- Bone Machine

A full Hour of Tom Waits....Enjoy!