the applicant

heard about your promises

heard about your lies

the sunken wreck of another ship

who saw your bedroom light

but I just want to show you a good time

 

heard about your politics

your lipstick, red wine

I met the fan club president

your weekend satellite

but I just want to show you a good time

 

So tell me…

Tell me that you’re lonely just like me

 

Its getting late and the party crowd

is moving single file

another victim writes your number down

and everybody smiles

but I just want to show you a good time

 

So tell me…

 

Stability

 

I tried to find you

Before I left the bout

You were somewhere in the crowd

To tell you I’ve missed those days

But especially that winter

And I’d see you on Saturday

For your astronaut-themed dinner

 

Then I saw you kiss that boy

Outside the VIP room

And it was all I could do to walk on through

But then I knew that I

Could never stop by

Cause it was all a reminder of things that change

When you never want them to

 

Then we rowed upstream flanked by shores of green

I wade through the details send the revival cue

And the bottles of wine on the porch with the vines

At the old house on 45th avenue

Where the rain drenched our clothes

Our bikes on the road began to slip and falter and showed

No sign of stability

Cause you were with me

But you weren’t with me then

And the memories play to a melody made in the songs

From those days

I had a past and you had a future

Words I never said could not provide suture

To the holes in you

 

diamond ring

 

I need to hear your words

I need to know you love me

singing like a bird

hovering above me

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I don’t want to go to bed

why wont you take my call?

this letter isn’t helping

its not helping me at all

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

and I would never

I could never

you said “never criticize”

Your big fat diamond ring

 

Winter is so cold

the furniture is gone

blue label kind of bold

I am barely holding on

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I haven’t really changed

so was it really me?

it takes two to play the game

but only one of us agrees

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I would never

I could never

You said “never criticize”

Your big fat diamond [fucking] ring

 

b.i.o.l.o.g.y

 

I know your name is just a string of letters

And this is all just biology

 

Paper Ships

 

I’m feeding out the line on tens of tens of ropes

Attached to all my friends to whom in time I haven’t spoke

But I too am hooked to all their cables and their lines

I can feel the tension slackening; they’re not reeling in this time

And now I’m sifting through the twine in my hands

One of these was yours, these frayed strands

 

This mattress remembers your print

And this bed, it misses everyone who’s ever been in it

There were days when this house felt a little more busy

Now the words from your lips masquerade as paper ships

Whose decks just fell the below the waterline too slow

Cause they couldn’t hold the cargo of a boy

 

Who hadn’t learned yet just how to think about the past

Especially the good parts, the upstarts, the undivided hearts

And the motels and apartment doorbells

Before we’d just walk in

Caroline, let’s feel that way again

 

If you dig your heels in just right

Pull hard enough you just might

Be able to hold on

To the ones that aren’t gone yet

Cause they were leaving you I bet

Like severing the castanets

Caroline, you’ll still shine

the applicant

heard about your promises

heard about your lies

the sunken wreck of another ship

who saw your bedroom light

but I just want to show you a good time

 

heard about your politics

your lipstick, red wine

I met the fan club president

your weekend satellite

but I just want to show you a good time

 

So tell me…

Tell me that you’re lonely just like me

 

Its getting late and the party crowd

is moving single file

another victim writes your number down

and everybody smiles

but I just want to show you a good time

 

So tell me…

 

Stability

 

I tried to find you

Before I left the bout

You were somewhere in the crowd

To tell you I’ve missed those days

But especially that winter

And I’d see you on Saturday

For your astronaut-themed dinner

 

Then I saw you kiss that boy

Outside the VIP room

And it was all I could do to walk on through

But then I knew that I

Could never stop by

Cause it was all a reminder of things that change

When you never want them to

 

Then we rowed upstream flanked by shores of green

I wade through the details send the revival cue

And the bottles of wine on the porch with the vines

At the old house on 45th avenue

Where the rain drenched our clothes

Our bikes on the road began to slip and falter and showed

No sign of stability

Cause you were with me

But you weren’t with me then

And the memories play to a melody made in the songs

From those days

I had a past and you had a future

Words I never said could not provide suture

To the holes in you

 

diamond ring

 

I need to hear your words

I need to know you love me

singing like a bird

hovering above me

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I don’t want to go to bed

why wont you take my call?

this letter isn’t helping

its not helping me at all

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

and I would never

I could never

you said “never criticize”

Your big fat diamond ring

 

Winter is so cold

the furniture is gone

blue label kind of bold

I am barely holding on

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I haven’t really changed

so was it really me?

it takes two to play the game

but only one of us agrees

 

Oh. I don’t want to know

 

I would never

I could never

You said “never criticize”

Your big fat diamond [fucking] ring

 

b.i.o.l.o.g.y

 

I know your name is just a string of letters

And this is all just biology

 

Paper Ships

 

I’m feeding out the line on tens of tens of ropes

Attached to all my friends to whom in time I haven’t spoke

But I too am hooked to all their cables and their lines

I can feel the tension slackening; they’re not reeling in this time

And now I’m sifting through the twine in my hands

One of these was yours, these frayed strands

 

This mattress remembers your print

And this bed, it misses everyone who’s ever been in it

There were days when this house felt a little more busy

Now the words from your lips masquerade as paper ships

Whose decks just fell the below the waterline too slow

Cause they couldn’t hold the cargo of a boy

 

Who hadn’t learned yet just how to think about the past

Especially the good parts, the upstarts, the undivided hearts

And the motels and apartment doorbells

Before we’d just walk in

Caroline, let’s feel that way again

 

If you dig your heels in just right

Pull hard enough you just might

Be able to hold on

To the ones that aren’t gone yet

Cause they were leaving you I bet

Like severing the castanets

Caroline, you’ll still shine