Materialism

 Materialism 

your culture is insane 

you don’t know how to feel 

killing people across the world 

is a dirty deal 

what you call comfort 

cheaply-made things 

what you think of as happiness 

just advertising  

I keep moving just to prove to myself 

I’m ready for anything; a maintenance check 

I keep reading coming up for air 

I’ve stopped believing we’re gonna be saved  

she talked to me for hours 

in the middle of the street 

it started to shower 

but I could still feel 

I took it back to Babylon 

I couldn’t unsee it 

only when singing 

could I touch reality  

Half-Wrong

 Half-Wrong 

I was half-wrong 

you were half-right

only you 

get to decide 

outcomes 

in a sticky night 

“D’s” in calculus 

come back to haunt a mind 

the world looks pretty 

hurt from up here 

we don’t feel 

mature in these heels 

there are no terms 

for the deal 

do what you want and then 

I think about it forever 

Questions

 Questions

did you ever get it together? 

I never opened the letter 

you thought you knew better 

judging me in your sweater 

did it ever start to hum? 

those notes you got wrong 

you wouldn’t give up  

although you could move up a half-tone 

did it ever hit twice? 

those times were so nice 

now they’re gone like the ice 

evaporating in the sky  

will I ever see you again? 

my dreams have been barren 

metaphors easily matched 

kisses turning to sand  

questions live unanswered 

in boxes unopened packed 

in alphabetical order 

in the back of my closet