Gatsby's Green Light

Green Light beats a

Progressive tense

A mirage

Drive work; drive home

Tracing sand circles

While ribcages of concrete and two by

Fours lull us to complacency

True love has no place

Amongst rep and family lines

Money’s got no grace

Love knows no time

Some things even money can't buy

A compensatory million,

Spent on the illusions shared gazes might give.

Red light

Poolside

Mirrors and halls

We drive home points and take them back

We the cynics, pointing fingers

Knucklebones tapping:  blockbusters, spirits, ads,

True life has no place

Amongst social networking and saving face

Our age knows no grace

Pretends no time

Some things even time can't buy

70 some point something years compensating,

Spent on the illusions that spinning reels give,

Chasing tails.

Yellow time

Roads pass fly

Airports and metro stops

Give our homes our good-byes

We are impermanent disguise

Our bodies fear, ache, and burn

And our bones just won't set right

It's coffin time, tapping out a morseful sigh

Death has no place amongst the lives we lie.

Forgotten funerals, no one arrives

Grace forgotten lungs’ breath just sighs

There are some things no man can right.

Compensating for the emptiness

Where our illusions lie.

Hold me;

I'm a lost generation.

A red light

Closing time

Even man has learned to fly

Atomic bombs, another riot,

Another demon in the sky

We are cycle, chaos,

Caught in the machine

Mother progress

Starts to eat,

With her rows of gears like teeth

There's a chip in my head

A ticking in my chest

Father time has us on the clock

Blue and red wires cross

My heart, and hope to die

Far from big brother's snapping eyes

Jpegging us into our eternal life

Sister Mary's on the phone

The lines are always busy waiting

Veins tranferring digabytes, fingers tasking through the night

A trinity of novelty, youth, et la mode

There's a light just across the bay

A past and progress we cannot live

In the mirage of day

Reality seems plain.

And in the dark,

Our vanity seems right.

There's a light across the bay

Starboard green

Keeping time

There's a sailcloud in the breeze

Rolling far away tonight

Atlantis waits if you can pay

The diamond stars begin to grey

We cast our lots, Russian roulette

Bullet bites us in the end

Can only play so long

Before the crash

All the bloodwork is never done

A waiting room, an emergency

Another party, more confetti

Pile it on, pass the stakes

The stock market will surely save

And you were liquor in my lungs

The taste of gold, collisions

My heart undone

If I am lost

I'm lost for good.

Ain't it something?

Everything to nothing

The tick tack toe the keyboard plays

Against my fingers finds a way

To write the words that I can't hold.

Words I'll never really know.

And which came first,

Cowardice or West Egg?

What's a king to a god?

What's a mob to a king?

And all the nothing on the screen

Life a candy-filled sweet nothings feast.

What's it to be?
What's it to me?

It’s the sense of touch

Sailing pacifics,

Seeking that flash

As the sun dies

Green light

I am a gasp,

Between the impulse and the action

Between Atlantis and Manhattan

All the things that once meant so much

Ashes, traffic smog, and dust.

There is nothing new, nor fashionable,

Just a green light mumbling

Get ready to go.

Just the dying sunlight of

A pulse.

Happy Birthday to Kate

I remember on your first day,
You couldn't wait to have your birthday,
You made a mess all over the car,
And Daddy caught you in his arms.
I was excited cuz we got to have an unplanned sleepover.

I remember how you used to hold our hens
And when we elected a supreme chancellor
I remember how much Hannah Montana
You watched in Arizona.

I remember hanging out after your ballet in Carlsbad,
And thinking "as boring as this waiting is,
I have a pretty swell sister."

I remember how you were scared to go on the Xcelerator
And Ghostrider, I remember how you
Convinced me to dive into this tiny little cleft between the rocks
And photo walks, bike rides to Kretinga, In N Out
Suspended seven Hundred feet in the air.

I remember on Christmas day
You sang Aladdin through your nose
A "whole new world" the song goes
And that's the place that you are now.

Serving, growing, ebbing, flowing,
Calmly spastic, quiet and firm.
I remember how you showed me that
Two can be better than one, and I love how
You live things like community and friendship and prayer,
That I always seem to lose cuz I run,
But you walk a baseline, steady and slow
With wide-open eyes and an occasional shrug,
An occasional poke and a timely hug.

So vaya con Dios, сестра моя,
Another year's here, another year's gone.
The plans that He has are constant and true,
Look out for Dia, pray for me to,
All manner of things will be Good in His time,
But as far as sisters go, you're already just right

The "Movie Star Life" (A Song)

Hello Mr. Director
Which one are you?
Oh yeah, the big hair,
Sorry, I am at the theater
Watching that one you made
About the...the...okay
It's Spielberg.

Hey boss, how about the Dodgers tomorrow?
What's that?
You're on the set and filming now?
Everything's fine just got one question:
Is this one where I'm the guy
From Enspacola, you know the one who
Likes to eat those empanadas?
Or is this the guy from Ensenada
Who likes to sip piña coladas?

Oh--the one from Colorado
Who got stuck in a snowstorm
And was fired from his job.
Sorry, boss, I'm a movie star

Making it in Hollywood is so hard.
Sometimes the best role you can find
Is a bum in a parked car.
I even flashed a few directors.
They said they didn't really like my chest hair.
Oh what to do, with a dream like this?

What's that, hold on,
I don't remember the part
Where the snowstorm guy
Got fired
Oh, you mean me, Sorry Mr. What's-your-name...
Score-says-he....haha, what are you like a
Basketball announcer 
"It's 65-64 and Durant is going
in for a dunk...HOLY MOLY!!!"

So he hung up;
I guess that's over.
That was my big break
As a human popsicle
That a man finds in a blizzard
Somewhere past Denver.

Making it in Hollywood is so hard
Unless you're in landscaping, image consulting, or used cars.
I was extra #22 in some big blockbuster film
Where an alien bit me in two.
What's a boy to do?

Hello, beautiful aspiring actress girlfriend.
How are you?  How is your hot friend?
Would you like to go--on a road trip?
Cuz I'm free all this week!

Sorry, I, forgot you're working
I was supposed to come visit you on your break.
You see I was just at the cinema,
Thinking about better films that Spielberg made.
How's your role, down at the community theater?
Do you know your lines?
Do you know your cues?

"You're breaking up with me."
That sounded so convincing.
I was worried for a moment it was true.
Well...
You can't DO THAT, cuz if you're breaking up with me
I'm BREAKING UP WITH YOU.

Making it in Hollywood is so hard
Thank goodness for the California cash refund.
My parents say that I should just grow up,
So I said okay, I'm moving home
And starting a youtube channel!

Sister can you grab me another footlong?
Cast and crew need to eat.
I've got this swell idea for a brand new song
And it isn't meta in the least!  *wink*
Oh I wish that Whedon nerd could see me now.

"What's that Joss, you'd like me to get eaten again?"
How many times is this alien invasion thing
Gonna happen?
You know I think I could be a villain on the new Firefly
I'd be like "Join the dark side Mal,
You're emotionally constipated
If you want to be more Vulcan-like
You've got to express your feelings."

You know, a lot of people been hanging up on me lately.
And making it on youtube
Ain't all its cracked up to be.
My video was flagged,
By some evil recording company, and
My mom makes me do my own laundry.