i got hurt on the mind
i got hurt in the gut
i got hurt I gut hurt
i got hurt — tell ya what

7 little angels
where ya gonna land
7 little angels
singing in the sand

i got hurt on the head
i got hurt in the hand
i got hurt, i gut hurt
i got hurt, understand?

3 little words
what ya gonna say?
3 little words
say’m again

i got hurt on my mind
I got hurt in my gut
i got hurt, i gut hurt
I got hurt — so what?

1 more chance
grab it if you will
1 more time
let me love you still

i got hurt and left behind
i got hurt, you know what
I got hurt, I gut hurt
I got hurt — so what?

The frog on the branch is green
and poisonous — not venomous
that’s a different thing — watching
me, two-footed, walking below
the canopy. Sunlight is no mystery,
from moment to moment it remains
unseen, the shadows are. The frog
chirps in search of love (but only
at night). I keep moving,
careful not to touch his shining skin.

the face is hidden
for fear of finding god
in the godless

art, with all the truth,
is too much for such a small faith

the words are left
untranslated — as if translation loses holiness

art, with all the truth,
is too hard to understand for such heretics

rage and rage and contempt
yes, leave that painted in the pattern
yes, leave that sketched & revealed
yes, let that silly little fat little nasty little god
be revealed in those billion liars lies

would you stop
just stop pretending
i am real

look up into the branches of that tree
we climbed in years ago
beside that rock

i am there
on the ground
my head beside the rock

look out over that clear cold lake
we swam in years ago
in the summer

i am there
in the waves
my body below surface

look into the empty blue cup
we drank from years ago
beside the river

i am real
just stop pretending
just stop

remember that night
we talked about art
and i painted you
naked — 5 lines
3 colors — a coin cut into parts, and flipped
until  chance left us without any possibility
to speak again.

to speak again
about any possibility of a chance meeting
in the colorless twilight — a tale of two heads
facing a long line
of naked truth
and an unspeakable body of work
in an unremembered night

oh my friend, if you ever knew
this was you, perhaps you’d slap me

you’d say, no
you can’t say words
like that

the sting of your hand on my face
the sting of your words in my head

i’d say, no no
i didn’t mean
it was you

because a lie is better
than the truth
to protect a dream
from a world like this

all the bounds of unbounded sea awash
with brine and froth and fish of constant jelly
— these are the boundaries of self

the recklessness of the emptiness between the stars
alive with light traipsing the invisibles curves
— this is the unbridled id that sings a truer self

the sting of touch reveals me
neither water nor the jellyfish floating
on the current  through the blessed abyss

tonight i write for paper’s sake
for every pen with ink
tonight i write for you and you and you and you… and anyone that thinks

i write for every maybe
that has to be enough
i write and write and write and write
even when it’s tough

tonight i write for letter’s sake
for every story without end
tonight I write for you and you and you and you … for every loving friend

i write for every that is so
that can’t be near enough
i write and write and write and write
even though it’s tough

tonight i write for the sake of thought
for every echo of the mind
tonight i write for you and you and you and you … and every soul
designed

i write for every never
that ever will be missed
i write and write and write and write
and leave you with a kiss.

this is the risk:
you ask me
“who are you?”

everything — the entire universe,
every star, all the dust between,
all of time —  hinges on that fulcrum

this is the impossibility
i answer you

imagine words half worded
imagine pictures unpicked
imagine what you will
i think that that’s the trick

imagine music unamused
imagine dances unstepped
imagine in the darkness
i think that is regret

imagine words from stones
imagine pictures on a stream
imagine what you won’t
I think that that’s the dream

imagine music and the muse
imagine dance’s smile
imagine in the sunshine
i think it might take a while