12. Insanity

When I move, I fly. I think it’s easier than walking
Electrons tell me stories ‘cause I listen when they’re talking
I like building monasteries--look, the ghosts are coming!
Everywhere I go, it seems the ground is always humming
I think it’s just the Under-People hacking to the top-ground
But I don’t really care ‘cause that’s a less important sound
Than the telepathic aliens who tell me what to do
They’re nice and never fail to show me how to find a clue
And though they think my eyes should be a little bit more red
I can’t decide between them, or the Monkey, when I’m dead
I think that turkeys hate me and that’s why they are so ugly
They always eat my tongue and then they stalk off oh-so-smugly

I bet you think I’m weird just ‘cause I’m special, can’t you see
It irks me when you call this gift of mine insanity.

11. Memory

Looking through a photo-book
And finding ages past
Those times seemed not so long ago--
I guess they flew real fast.
My face is longer (so’s my hair)
And now I’m kind of tall
And now I find it weird to think
That I was e’er that small.

10. Breathe Again

only silence reigns
til urgency compels him
we exhale, then gasp


[guest post by Nathan!]

9. Drive

breathless, speeding on

suddenly, he takes the wheel

(she is in labor)

8. Innocence

Sometimes we wish for it to go
Sometimes we wish it'd come.
It's never fully there inside,
But there was always some.
Sometimes it slowly melts away
Its manner long and drawn
Sometimes, abrupt, it vanishes
And in one breath is gone.
We find we cannot hold it fast
It cannot help but flee

Yet innocence dwelt in the Son
Who died in place of me.

7. Heaven

he ran away, long ago
but now he’s coming back
trudging up the dusty road
thoughts chasing themselves
around
and
around
as he tries to think of what to say

Father--
I am sorry?
no, that won’t work.
Father--
I’ve sinned against you?
better.
but still not quite right.
Father--

he realizes,
his sin was greater than he thought
not just against his father
but first
foremost

against heaven.

Father--
I have sinned against heaven
and before you
I am no longer worthy
to be called your son
Treat me as one of your...
hired servants.

satisfied, he rehearses it
perfects it
(or so he thinks)
and trudges onward.

6. Break Away

he ran away, long ago
told his father
he wished he was dead
took his inheritance
everything he had
and journeyed far

now he asks himself
why?

wasn’t it better back there?

so now he rises from the mud
pushes through the grunting hogs
tells the farmer,
I’m going home.

He runs homeward,
unsure of what will be his welcome
but knowing anything
even being a servant
in his father’s house
is better than the pigsty.