WAKING UP (2025)

Tonight I’ll tackle the mundane

Just to watch my evening drain

Collect the junk mail and nicotine

All the noise we had between

Where’d you say you’ve gone?

I’ve just been a ghost too long to see

Try to stretch the ends of me

Crack my phone defensively

The stereo, TV and dog

Can’t drown the silence and the fog

Frames come off the wall

What can it mean to feel so small but still so free?

Tell me, now, do you want me around?

Hold me, ‘cause I’m floating off the ground

I’m waking up, again enough

Can any, anybody,

Anybody else see me?

Growing pains, the heavy tug

Scrape myself up off the rug

Behind the bar where it all began

How can I unknow my man?

Cold beers and colder sheets

I assume you’re on the couch to sleep again tonight?

Tell me, now, do you want me around?

Hold me, ‘cause I’m floating off the ground

I’m waking up, again enough

I ask myself this question

Anybody else see me?

It snowed last night and again today

What wakes you up out of the grey?

Almost six years and one long week

I pray you find the words to speak


Tell me, now, do you want me around?

Hold me, ‘cause I’m floating off the ground

I’m waking up, again enough

I ask myself this question

Anybody else see me?

I’m waking up, again enough

I ask myself this question

Anybody else see me?

JULIAN’S SONG (2025)

Tuesday morning, soupy sky

Tiny toes and wary eye

It’s a long rocket trip from outer space

Knocking so hard, open up the place!

A cowboy kid’s gotta ride the plains

Sunburst soaked room remains

From you

Velvet skin, bunny nose

Make me laugh, put on a show

It hurts like hell to stretch and grow

But I promise its worth the joy and woe

Teach me funny songs and dad’s backbeat

Luckiest little boy on Alto Street

Julian

Julian

Sweet milk drunk, big jazz hands

All new places, faces, plans

The daily second guessing, fearsome dreams

And you with your own funny boy schemes

Sleep deprived, but it’s ok to cry

One day your mom will teach you why

Julian

Julian

Where are you going?

Where’d you come from?

There’s time in your eyes

Child of the sun 

Where are you going?

Where’d you come from?

There’s time in your eyes

Child of the sun

Child of the sun

Julian

Julian

Julian

Julian

I WENT TO SEE MAX (2018)

Monday, I went to see Max, took a cab ‘cross town

He said, when unbolting the door, “darlin’, you’ve got it down”

I walked some blocks to the corner store

Knowing no more

Last Thursday, back from the bar, turned a corner, was struck

By a man in a red windbreaker, took my wallet, my luck

God bless the landlord, he was in

Knowing where I’d been


I awoke at three last night, in fairness I never slept

In the light of the fridge I stood back, remembered those I’d never met

What do we owe to each other, man? 

I know just what I can


Took a stroll down an old foreign road, the name I can’t recall

Dead leaves made my stomach roll up as I crossed the school walls

Old gold cement tunnels beckon me

“Sweet girl, it’s not hard to see”

Say, Max, would you cut me some slack? Take your truck and we split?

It’s frigid and my keys, they won’t turn, some stoops I vow not to sit

Don’t speak again till we see the moon

Max, is it too soon?

Another city weekend, biked back to the station

I asked a cop sitting there, he said you were on vacation

I took the long way home, never before

Opening wide my orange door, knowing one thing for sure

THE LONG NIGHT (2024)

Good morning, light

Is this the real life, baby?

Out of spite?

Is this a joke? I mean, maybe?

Seeing through two-dimensional, unconventional girl

So unfurl, it’s gonna be a long night

Falling backwards off the wall

A jet black tunnel and out I call 

Do you ever feel like you never saw better

Your eye’s never been clear before

Appeal to the man from the letter

He says the lights fading on the shore

But I know there’s an island on the sea

And it goes on and on and on and on

On and on and on and on for me

Cower in sunshine

though it waits for me daily

Facing down 

Is it a lonely world, lady?

Evil eye, protect me from again, wreck my bones and then grin

Living half life, 6 months out of 5

I grow impatient with the noise

Can all I love only destroy? 

Do you ever feel like you never saw better

Your eye’s never been clear before

Appeal to the man from the letter

He says the lights fading on the shore

But I know there’s an island on the sea

And it goes on and on and on and on

Do you ever feel like you never saw better

Your eye’s never been clear before

Appeal to the man from the letter

He says the lights fading on the shore

But I know there’s an island on the sea

And it goes on and on and on and on

I’m holding on but letting go 

Of everything I thought I’d know

I’m holding on but letting go 

Of everything I thought I’d know

I’m holding on but letting go 

Of everything I thought I’d know

I’m holding on but letting go 

Of everything I thought I’d know

SEDONA (2024)

Ooh honey, I couldn’t let you know

What I saw in Sedona or LA

I brought you back some blue and gold

From a man who raised goats in Santa Fe 

Hums of the valley will echo unto me, but I don’t sleep anymore

Wake me up, I’m growing older from the rain

Take some time, just a moment ‘cause I’m on the train

Fly up to Prince Edward Isle

To air me out a while on a smokestack

Meet you at 1 o’clock Thursday 

With an old Prince Rupert paperback

Hums of the valley will echo unto me, but I don’t sleep anymore

Wake me up, I’m growing older from the rain

Take some time, just a moment ‘cause I’m on the train

Miles far from ginger ale peanuts 

Just a suitcase and a truck out on the plains

Clock’s dead, but I remember that you said

Look upon the lighthouse that remains

Hums of the valley will echo unto me, but I don’t sleep anymore

Wake me up, I’m growing older from the rain

Take some time, oh, just take some time

Because I’m on the line and 

I can’t be without

My mind’s holding out on 

Today’s just yesterday but 

Tomorrow I can’t stay

I’m on the train

I’m on the train

GENEVIEVE (THIS TOWN) (2022)

It’s a wave of the times now, baby

You either swim or you drown

Soak it up, maybe, by and by

If you just listen to the sound saying

Singin’ ah…

You know, I had a bad night, and so I

Went to see my old spark

Psychic said, you’re just fine

So, I left down 42nd and Park

Oh, Genevieve

It was the city that left me

Don’t kiss goodbye

I’ll see you on the other side

And I know, when you’re gone

There’s a calm, and the fog dissipates

This old town, is surrounded

By old rules and fakes

Bring me back to old time sounds

When radio was the law

So, we met for a coffee

But I don’t fall anymore for her thaw

Oh, Genevieve

It was the city that left me

Don’t kiss goodbye

I’ll see you on the other side

And I know, when you’re gone

There’s a calm, and the fog dissipates

This old town, is surrounded

By old rules and fakes

Five years go all along

Fever dreams come and go

Down by the beach drinking

Thinking ‘bout the old snow

I don’t miss the cold

Flew up for a just long weekend

Hit the cash machine

I don’t miss a moment, ‘cause 

I know what bad friends mean 

Oh, Genevieve

It was the city that left me

Don’t kiss goodbye

I’ll see you on the other side

And I know, when you’re gone

There’s a calm, and the fog dissipates

This old town, is surrounded

It’s surrounded!

And I know, when you’re gone

There’s a calm, and the fog dissipates

This old town, is surrounded 

By old rules and fakes

It’s not too late, to get on board for your sake

There’s one way out of this town, this backstabbing snake

You don’t wanna let go 

You gotta a grip to show

You don’t wanna let go 

Like you can’t make it, girl, just forsake it 

You don’t wanna let go 

You gotta a grip to show

You don’t wanna let go 

Like you can’t make it, girl, just forsake it 

COUNT THE PEOPLE (2019)

I got up late yesterday, checked my phone for some delay

It’s Friday night, and it’s all right, shaking drinks, avoiding winks, lock up ‘round midnight

Do you watch enough TV? Are you waiting up for me?

And every night, well, I don’t sleep but that’s okay, ‘cause I’m in deep watching your eyelids race


You don’t have to hang on to those tiny pieces of old let downs

And you don’t have to say anything, just climb into bed

Forget the words that were never said

I heard them whisper at the sinks, “she makes the strangest faces”

But I can help my expressions, and all of my confessions, I know you don’t really mind

You don’t have to hang on to those tiny pieces of old let downs

And you don’t have to say anything, just climb into bed

Forget the words that were never said

Are you unafraid? Did you get better grades?

I need to know before my time

I never drove so far, on a Monday, broken car

On an afternoon so cloudy

Will you smile for just a while?


Can we walk down the street, count the people I will meet?

On the porch in the sun, have a smoke, well, what’s begun? 

Today’s the only day I’ll remember


You don’t have to hang on to those tiny pieces of old let downs

And you don’t have to say anything, just climb into bed

Forget the words that were never said

FLATLANDS (2020)

If you think it’s over, baby

Know we’ve just begun

While the year’s been rain-checked, maybe

You go and get your gun

Right out loud

Riot now

Raise a glass to all the fools who

Can’t recall a face

In another time the city

Runs a human race

Breaking ground on all their bids

Chasing grocers and shoeshine kids

Take me back

Like a heart attack

Stepping over the same shit

Day after day, despise

Bending back for my old man

The flatlands will rise

Men in masks line the street but

It’s the naked skin

To all the world I call long distance

TV star has-been

And it’s 1900 now

On a freight ship, breaking vows

Unmarked van

Unarmed man

Stepping over the same shit

Day after day, despise

Bending back for my old man

The flatlands will rise

So, what you gonna do about it?

Take a drag and sip your sin

I can read and write about it

But who will listen?

Stepping over the same shit

Day after day, despise

Bending back for my old man

The flatlands will rise

Na na na na na na na na …

If you can’t build me up

You can’t break me down

On the other side

It’s around, it’s around

DESERT SONG (2019)

I’m sure it’s better than Mars but I’m running hot

Fired miles off a wooden leg to find out what I’ve got already

Sold a fool on a faulty saddle, rode some nights alone

It was a cool breeze twistin’ and tumblin’ me off a horse full-grown

I was high in the dunes at daybreak

Saw a face on the shadow of a white fir tree

A smile dry, and a spring about to make

Water from me

Went to town, had my old boots fixed up and was overcharged

That night, I prostrate the moon and see a Lord enlarged before me

Next morning, saw an old woman, skin made of ash

But I filled my bottle and got gone, forgetting about the cash

I was high in the dunes at daybreak

Saw a face on the shadow of a white fir tree

A smile dry, and a spring about to make

Water from me

I’ve come for asking, cloaked and lost in the sandstorms

And riding out, I clear my throat, on broken ground, the pleas I wrote

They just don’t matter anymore to me

I was high in the dunes at daybreak

Saw a face on the shadow of a white fir tree

A smile dry, and a spring about to make

Water from me

JUST A SYMPTOM (2019)

Every morning wake to twisted sheets, a wasted night

I talk for fifty minutes, lying while she writes

It’s an heirloom ruminating, it’s in the air

Looming over me

We drive up to the coast of Maine, four rest stops down

We swim, we read, we talk about the wedding gown

I pack my bags, they’re growing, every thought around me

Showing weeds

Mama, breathe in deep, I know that you can’t sleep

But it’s just a symptom, just a symptom

Mama, just relax, your daughter’s coming back to you

Mostly, if you listen closely

We take the Cape by storm, no cards, no cash, no jeans

I’m proud but the boy I love is out west, making means

I watch a lady shrinking, laughing on the sofa, drinking

Club soda

I’m on the pull-out, she’s in Duck Inn by the lake

I sleep-walk down to ask if we’ve make some mistake

But she can’t hear the water, the light’s left on

Don’t bother, please

Mama, breathe in deep, I know that you can’t sleep

But it’s just a symptom, just a symptom

Mama, just relax, your daughter’s coming back to you

Mostly, if you listen closely

Ten nights till the wedding

I’ve gotta wash all the bedding again

And on that night, we’ll champagne toast

To say farewell to every ghost

So, get some rest, Mama, in the maze

And wake me up on Columbus Day

And I think that will be better still

Mama, breathe in deep, I know that you can’t sleep

But it’s just a symptom, just a symptom

Mama, just relax, your daughter’s coming back to you

Mostly, if you listen closely

SUMMER IN THE COUNTRY (2018)

I was born in the wake of another billion-dollar tune

I was sold on the city to make me up sometime ‘round June

I’ve worn out my tapes and I wait beside the phone, call

Three-thousand miles, baby, have you grown tall?

It’s summer in the country, it’s foggy in the flats

And I know nothing can last, but I’ll wade into you

I drive in the mornings, with all the bullshit honking past

Do you wait for the walk signs? Can I tune in your broadcast?

When you’re in my mind, I dream about the subway

I’m older and guided by God, I ride without sway

Just give me a word, you know my books are blurred

I’m just trying to stir you, but I’ll wade into you

Honey, won’t you catch a plane to me?

And baby, see what I believe

It’s some years on and cash spent I don’t got

I’m wondering, will you post me what you bought?

Parlay me all your thoughts, just another day to rot

You know we never fought, it bends my brain a lot

I’ll wade into you

I’ve worn out my tapes and I wait beside the phone, call

Three-thousand miles, baby, have you grown tall?

It’s summer in the country, it’s foggy in the flats

Is your mood really all that?


Honey, just a little bit, take me by your side

And give me some guidance, something on your mind

I wonder if we’ve wasted months and love unbinding

Do you think of me? I just need some time

Honey, just a little bit, take me by your side

And give me some guidance, something on your mind

I wonder if we’ve wasted months and love unbinding

Do you think of me? I just need some time

And I swear I’ll wade into you

NOVA SCOTIA (TELL ME, LEE) (2019)

When you get back from Nova Scotia

All I wanna do is wake you up fast, drink an iced tea

Take a walk past the old tumored tree

When you get back from off the ocean

Honey, hope you lose it more often, break your eyeglasses

And soften focus on breeze, sunburn with ease

I just want to hold you, Lee

I’m not sure I told you, Lee

I feel like a kid in my bed

I thank God for the words that you’ve said

And the fruit on the tree and the fish in the sea

The birds and the stars, what makes them ours?

Set me as a seal upon your arm

Over floods, over landslides, a demon’s charm

Down in the valley, in the valley

When you get back from cream-white beaches

Maybe trim your hair, throw on clean sheets

You know I don’t care, it’s the old heatwave

I’ll save some sun for you

I just want to hold you, Lee

I’m not sure I told you, Lee

I feel like a kid in my bed

I thank God for the words that you’ve said

And the fruit on the tree and the fish in the sea

The birds and the stars, what makes them ours?

Set me as a seal upon your arm

Over floods, over landslides, a demon’s charm

Down in the valley, in the valley

Will you ride your bike across town?

In the middle of the night, with the ghosts around?

They send their regards

I just want to hold you, Lee

I’m not sure I told you, Lee

I feel like a kid in my bed

I thank God for the words that you’ve said

And the fruit on the tree and the fish in the sea

The birds and the stars, what makes them ours?

Set me as a seal upon your arm

Over floods, over landslides, a demon’s charm

Tell me, Lee, you love me, dontcha?

When you get back from Nova Scotia

They try to charm you but I’m in your arms, too

It’s a canyon deep, I’m down in the valley

Where you sleep, where you sleep

Where you sleep, where you sleep

BROOKLYN BRIDGE ON A SUNDAY (2018)

Get away to someone’s island, holiday on booze and sharks

It’s only autumn, some honey told me in a New York magazine in the park

It was a shoot for someone’s comeuppance, you only heard the camera snap

Ride the wave, wind up in the lobby, does it feel like swimming laps?

The weight of my love is not far, but sudden

The heavier nights hang over me

I finally slept and stirred in London

Turn over once more in the blue light, despite the place to be

Give me a call when you get to Virginia, the winter air there takes so long

I watched an old man spill his coffee, does he know that he can’t get it wrong?

I know you told me about your father after pub-crawling radio spots

I walked the brooklyn bridge on a Sunday, searching for a snowy voice or so I thought

The weight of my love is not far, but sudden

The heavier nights hang over me

I finally slept and stirred in London

Turn over once more in the blue light, despite the place to be

The older trains have green lighting

I once took a plane going nowhere but up

And pool halls and heels roam on cheap beer ups

I told your story to a boy in pitch grey

I sat up, left a note on the driveway

The weight of my love is not far, but sudden

The heavier nights hang over me

I finally slept and stirred in London

Turn over once more in the blue light, despite the place to be

SHEPHERD (2016)

I lay in bed, tracing and pacing for the afternoon

Wallowing in tune

I’m a desert-head but I’m liable to be a child until after June

Maybe longer than that

Charlie once said, in his madness, “I’m a tramp, a bum, a hobo I’m a boxcar, a jug of wine

I’m a straight-razor if you get too close to me” but honey, can’t you see? I’m yours if you’ve got mine

I just need some Goddamn time

And so I wish on many moons 

That I could see the days and dunes

But I am just a shepherd for the wind

And you won’t find me in this skin

I’m one to preach, “be a saviour, won’t you savor these mornings ends?”

But I’m not one to bend

I’m gunnin’ wild, I’ve been pushing this arid sand to death

So, how am I supposed to feel the rest?

And you’re riding miles and I hope you find peace and prayer between the lonely faces that you meet

I hope the water’s sweet

So, come call on me, send by hawk, by rain, by horse, my name is still the same

Centuries from now

And so I wish on many moons 

That I could see the days and dunes

But I am just a shepherd for the wind

And you won’t find me in this skin

It’s been many moons, and the sheep don’t eat and I don’t sleep

I wonder if I’m passing by all right

You’re a world away, you’re a sailor, a merchant, a priest, and you’re tired tonight

Slumber through the wide

A deaf woman told me I’m a tramp, a bum, a hobo, I’m a boxcar and a jug of wine

I’m a straight-razor if you get too close to me but honey, can’t you see?

I’m yours if you’ve got mine

 GLASGOW (2015)

I wolfed a phantom yesterday, it tasted like the rains

I cursed its fortune, my Indian summer burns, dynasty remains

Black mantras haunt me, wormed the trenches as flood lights bend estates

I know the ill eat, all my places, faces disintegrate 

I’ve split

You glow and go and go

I pray for Glasgow

I greased the ringlets, split ends lost to paper bag’s abyss

Gulf demons found me, orbits groggy, skins to crack a kiss

I’ve watched the hundreds but no man heavy to rot the stars to snakes

What’s trouble, fruit fly? You’re six feet down, I’m just a wall to break

I’ve split

You glow and go and go

I pray for Glasgow


I married fever, all my days, white hot melts the greys

I drowned my red seas in blues and blacks, bruises dried to weight

This grin is ringing, barefoot blackout, linoleum floors stung

I’ll wind the clocks back till the morning’s, till the hour’s young

I’ve split

You glow and go and go

I pray, I pray for Glasgow

Only the purest for you and me, while you burn I inhale debris

“Sunrise is lost on the lone,” they said

My voice is no pixel to stir the dead

Only the purest for you and me, while you burn I inhale debris

“Sunrise is lost on the lone,” they said

My voice is no pixel to stir the dead

I’ve split

You glow and go and go

I pray, I pray for Glasgow

MAIL ME something (2017)

Been bummin’ around for some time and I know it’s contrived

It’s even the way I get to sleep, I wake up at five

I told you I bought some rings in Camden, still cloudy but clean

And I lost one and the other turned my finger some bleak shade of green

Will you mail me something lighter than this fog?

Can I call on Sunday? I know of your backlog

‘Cause I might’ve misplaced my body

Mistakes I wish I’d made

Been ‘membering that morning, you know I’ve gotta confess

We walked down to the river market, I left my Chinese dress

I know you won’t go back but photograph the aimless “look left” signs

And the tube delays in the evenings, when you melt through the gap send some headlines

Would you fly me over some black sweets from home?

Though you made me return your purple crewneck loan?

‘Cause I might’ve misplaced my body

Mistakes I wish I’d made

We had a night with thirty-thousand, do you remember when?

I left the lights and missed the old boys sing, I’ll never go again

Now I’m wired from the plane ride, so wash me out in all that city smoke

Do me one favor, remind me of the street name from whence we last spoke

Would you mail me something? Show me written out

Can I call you someday? You know what it’s about

Would you ship me over some grey skies to glow?

Would you watch the winter falling as I go?

‘Cause I might’ve misplaced my body

Mistakes I wish I’d made

Mistakes I wish I’d made

Mistakes I wish I’d made

Mistakes I’m wishing and I miss

SPLINTERED LEGS

(2015)

Would you tell me, “I’m never turning back to splintered legs, even they beg?”

And in the morning, eyes smoking from the sound, will you turn your lids around?

In five-time, rain runs cement, you’ll meet me on a sunburnt scent

Pray on tides of blue to grey, you’re always waiting for today


You weigh to me, the moon I see, you speak a plea

And maybe, clotting paint goes on less faint

From tire grooves to empty shoes, there’s nothing left for me to prove

I still want the weight


Well, with the time green, you’re floating on a crowd, skinless bare, come up for air

And when you’re drowning, you’re molding a new mouth, lip-syncing to hide a doubt

And when the storm doors wake and wax the glass, I see beyond the shadow past

See me, miles of trains to go, I’m lying high above the crow


You weigh to me, the moon I see, you speak a plea

And maybe, clotting paint goes on less faint

From tire grooves to empty shoes, there’s nothing left for me to prove

I still want the weight


But you’re flying back from black holes so late

And I’ll walk wires blind till dawn, knowing that your eyes are on

I see, I’ve signed the slate unclean, for me

All I need’s your peace


You weigh to me, the moon I see, you speak a plea

And maybe, clotting paint goes on less faint

From tire grooves to empty shoes, there’s nothing left for me to prove

I still want the weight