Speaking to a man, who said enough Saying nothing Saying everything I said in paradox Robbing us of meaning Advocate for the devil Smirk on the face of a timid rebel In his voice, hearing only pretense, pride and treble He’s on another level So says he Mind is settled With ease, sees your mind unravelled How he please But still saying nothing Just enough for what he needs On the contrary This world will chew you up and spit you out Get a harder shell, man, you’d do well now Wipe that grin, wear that scowl ‘Cause any moment, it could all go south Can’t take a breath for the bluster For his pride, he traded in his wonder He can’t see the shade for his shadow Each day is just another Another chance to prove his pain Another chance to use his name Show the world one of his many faces As he debates his way through The same shame that we all know That we don’t know shit He’s on another level So says he Mind is settled With ease, sees your mind unravelled How he please But still saying nothing Just enough for what he needs Ah, baby, on the contrary On the contrary Scavenge at the carrion That smug libertarian looking worse for ware Starving by his own decision, he swears Wearing a shit eating grin before he collapses where he stands Oh contraire I used to quote “Say it loud, see how it feels” Just because it was said, doesn’t make it real Funny pointing out we’re the ones that believe that Like a kid in school, screaming he wants the talking stick back I wasn’t finished, I didn’t realise you’d started Saying the opposite isn’t making you seem smarter Or freer, just louder, just desperate for power Your sour someone wants a second to your hour He’s on another level So says he Mind is settled With ease, sees your mind unravelled How he please But still saying nothing Just enough for what he needs Oh, baby, on the contrary On the contrary

Losing toes to frostbite in southern summer heat We're cliche, wealthy poets, so what the fuck are we? These alphas not so subtly want to go back to the teat I just roll over and show my soft belly meat I've got time so trace the paths from my nerve endings Where the fuck does this shit go? I've been pretending Some of them are never ending Most bring up memories that we've been forcibly forgetting This halfway home between luxury and a co-op Geometric shape on a complex takes the edge off Scoff at a commie block, then build another suburb And that's a dream I dream of seeing burn Get some some fairy lights up on my mauseoleum Cobwebs, cold water and peeling linoleum It's got character, man, I should be thanking them We’re housing wounded animals; bring me the sodium Booked an hour in my community garden Lost to clerical era, so fuck it, get robbing Take anything not tied down Rip rods and creeper guides up from the ground I want a feed, I want to be something with meaning All I keep hearing, “What can you do for me?” Well actually, I came up with some pretty good options "That was rhetorical, dude", as they sink their teeth in I’m in the bag like I’m in the bag like Filling the glass like Lemonade Serenades and the sundresses Smoke kisses Rose plumes Rub resin Rum sippin Pour a few Thorns thicken Pause listen For a view of souls strickened Summer scene Sweat glistens Burning trees Green twisting Crumb the weed Being lifted Session Learn to see and being free a given Blessing Pushing p a mean you feed the spirit Lesson Sweat and try to sleep Some'll see the peace Seen it in your dreams Seasonal but needed it For relief Southern Summer heat Simmer simmer please Cellophane and weed Fighting fate And tryna find ya feet High My phone blowing like Fiends rushing back the pipe These night of heat I paint the town Brush black and white Your appetite Large The Afterlife Far I'm lapping up the laughter Lapping cats that played the fraud It’s that southern summer heat It’s that southern summer heat I'm a young dude, old time traveller, mashing buttons blind I grew up anywhere but here, any time but now, with any feelings but mine I flop backwards no spine Accidentally successful, no grind Hop on a hot mic and I tell some old lies I’ve got some anecdotes from my tiny life Pops brought his hand down, I think only one time But I hear his voice in every bottle of red wine But I’ve written about that; I lose myself in all that Third house warming this week, always the same cats We keep finding doors we can lock but not call ours It’s ok; you make a good wage by the hour If you measure in how many tinnies, it lets me sink Or that we definitely have way too much time to fucking think Hanging out with stereotypes that we keep proving Praying meaning and money wasn’t so elusive I love my polished little community of selves Couple of dirt bags would be nice just to give them hell I’m cutting ties with friends who fight fake enemies With ignorant bliss like this, what else do I need?

Let me put this down I’ve been throwing horseshoes and hand grenades blindfolded I’ve been breaking moulds and rolling down the hill Making mountains, not paying bills Keep running; can’t sit still Let me cradle this explosive Let me cradle this explosive And see if this cranium will give Let me cradle this explosive Up a creek I’ll see what sticksmoulds I made something that did not exist A subpar linguistic trying to speak his shit Written in stone and hope it skips So I’ve been building up river beds Flowing scarlet with what I’ve bled But for what, I lie in bed Scared shitless I said nothing that I meant Let me cradle this explosive Let me cradle this explosive And see if this cranium will give Let me cradle this explosive As my last and final act, I light the fuse Forces of physics only tell the truth Walls caked in what makes me up Skin, blood and poets depressing woeful blues Let it dry behind a rope and sleeping guard Light it up and call it art Let the kids throw campbells best So my plaque can read, ‘yes, he played his part’ Let this be a canvas to spill it Take what’s me, and build from it Might not be a masterpiece But believe splatter technique has got some merit Connect some dots while I relinquish Creative control of my depiction Find your own meaning in bloody drips As my pen drops when tighten my grip Let me cradle this explosive Let me cradle this explosive And see if this cranium will give Let me cradle this explosive Dust off the knuckle bones, take to the yard Might find more use in my body torn apart Little tools & trinkets, same inside you Where the bones fall is where you are Where you are Where you are Off lot screaming Down less travelled Bones in back, maps scrapped, speed barrelin’ Without tight grip, havens the same I’m going where I’m going, man drifting the lane In the passenger, same as ticking in my skull Explosive ready to blow the hull Fuck my name, pick scattered remains I’ll still be whistling, fanning the flames I’m good, I’m good right here Wait, let me write that down I’m good I’m good right here Let me cradle this explosive Let me cradle this explosive And see if this cranium will give Let me cradle this explosive

When that rent due When that rent due Snake bite the tail when the rent due Don’t understand my place in this; I don’t pretend to But play my mission and keep my symbolism simplistic so I’m not consumed by what I’m missing I’m not losing sleep, now I don’t sleep Beyond the veil, I’m up off my feet Plugged in’s a poor metaphor for a fearful rant I'm test subject bleeding from the implant Your children did not reject, they broke mortality If you disconnect them, you raise amputees I need my art, I need you for my poetry If we’re playing it reductive, can you see me? I see myself in that reflection and I want to take a bite And I want to take a bite I see myself in that reflection and I want to take a bite And I want to take a bite Well I make art wrong; I don’t speak plain Post irony and narcissism in my veins Reduce on the simmer cooked on the spark My blood thickens, clogging the heart Rigor mortis sets in, scabs see opportunity Lick lips, buy the dip of rising poverty See how they go when we disconnect the host Take their first breath on their own, only to choke We’ll leave in the dust the reductive and apathetic But first, bust rhetoric that greed’s in our genetics I’m sick of this shit, man we made it all up Fuck waiting to speak, man, interrupt Alright now, I’m on, I’m on And when the lights go out, I’m gone, I’m gone But they never go out, reflected in my eyes And if they do, I know it’s the end of this life I’m about to never forget Be everywhere, see everything, take in the view There’s no way back as we pay our debts Snake bite the tail when the rent due

Woh, woh, woh Slow it down Slow it down Slow it down Welcome to scatter shot Welcome to scatter shot Keep the engine hot Pen ink like a Pollock dripping blood Keep it flowing and keep digging Find something worth living What have you got? What are you giving? Over 5ths, drop hints, fuck you and your hits I found more in the paint each time that I've slipped So I'm loosening my grip Use liquor like a wash to bring out my features Find my shadow and shades to this metre 10 years recording these confessions Still learning compression Beats slaps, I blow it out Only now know what I'm writing about Hands blistered and keyboard blood caked Release addiction; ideas half baked Do this shit for my mental state Game night at the family home, I’m bringing a loaded six And a bottle of whisky Saw it in the films I was too young to see Little brother understood quickly I’ve spent years penning these nurseries Think simple truths best expressed simply But I’m worried these ideas are simply cursory Keep my goals and dreams loose leaf Hold my sensitivities dearly Wrote my best work in track pants Feeling quite sad and not so quickly But there’s nowhere I’d rather be Some foundation or a safety net sounds great But you know where you’ll find me Notoriously ill dressed for the weather Laboriously wrote down another ‘whatever’ Forgettable passage over too long a measure Say I did for you, ‘Oh, man, my pleasure’ I’m still down if I go ‘till I’m done and all I can say is “He got a bit better.” A foolish tenure mysteriously with whimsey holding it together From cradle to corduroy, crib to tweed Spring to ocean, capillary Keep the heart beating and that bar well stocked I’ll rummage one more time in my little paint box See what comes; if not through me, I’ll still let this shit run free Put something down; let’s see Slow it down Slow it down Slow it down Woh, woh, woh

Yeah, 2, 1, 2, now you hear this? This typical drunk observer fashioned witless Stumble, order again to avoid my litmus My wishlist, only to be witnessed Get a fresh flat bound and a 2B Chances are these scribblings aren't to be Stained glass or historical studied fiction But stay a human explorer on a mission From my pen tip flows bitter spritz Where I only ever want blood and wit Listen close. Can I get with it? Is each verse or thought perhaps another blip? Another chance at a bigger picture Can I paint without reading literature? Can I write knowing only familiar numb pain? Can I fight and still know my name? In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me? In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me? Told the mind needs some refined alignments Running mouths never offer up requirements Remember...it's alright to say nothing and be silent Make em look up while you're shoulder standing on a giant Peering through a looking glass of amusements Opaque windows becoming translucent Seeing bleating sheep with deafening recruitments Fleeting sights concluding disillusionments Working with too many superlatives Oh wait...too many syllables, I'll go conservative Alternatives worse compared to what it is Pejoratives are the only things I'm working with And so, now I'm focused on the, hocus pocus Got magicians saying, to give up it's hopeless Notice smoke and mirrors never the close ups - It's the, slight of hand that always fools us In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me? In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me? Back to old kicks, dig a fresh eye to it First trips through production didn’t quite hit But a glint or a vision as murky as it is Heard shit never should have dropped, stayed as practice Oh no, formative, necessary baby steps probably going to trip Some show instinctive, I’m inquisitive Keep plugging away until something sticks Oh no, old man in context out there fishing Bated breath until death, out all evening Slowly learning patience and some tricks But he knows, come nightfall, he’s still not eating Look to the stars, time again, check his charts Claim his unorthodox technique is his art Any moment now, fish will play their part Have I the heart to tell him the pond’s dried up? In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me? In these lyrebird days Am I mimicking you? Are you mimicking me?

Kodak 5247, let me try again 3rd times the charm, lost original intent Passed through valleys and mountains where realitys broken and here it ends, least I pretend Who knows, who knows, who knows man What you see’s not what you get I said what I said with no clue what's next I rhyme for cheques that are never coming Been humming in briefs, tonguing my teeth Tugging your sleeves and retouching my dreams Cutting room floor door flung wide I'm inside, trying to piece back together my mind What do you want? Who knows What do I want? Who knows What do we want? Who knows Who knows, who knows? The world is churning mud, not so fast My scattered instincts in forges recast I make art that’s infinite but won’t last Been lost in backlit darks; need some contrast "Oh, how dreadfully tedious this statement is. In Middle Ages, life was interesting. Every house had a goblin; each church had god." Maybe people just knew where to start But the big man didn’t create the final frontier "Straight paths aren't the shortest here." Ignore pencils down as we scribble past lines Of physics and philosophy. What’s left is divine I don’t feel that celestial inside The corporal saw elysium, “we’ve got new designs.” Like a spark to film stock, been musing on heaven Kodak 5247, let me try again What do I want? Who knows What do you want? Who knows What do we want? Who knows Who knows? I don't know what I want, but know I must create Others want to get paid for each breath they take Everything I’ve made has been a glorious mistake Wade through bullshit to find my next frame There’s no way back the way you came With nuts and rags, we'll find our way First step, one closer to the second Kodak 5247, let me try that one again Let me try that one again Let me try that one again

Last night, found a feeling as an anagram Room full of purpose, desperation, humanity as a diagram Glance down, disconnect location services where I stand Keep up with you, keep up with this, keep up with me Politely decline the invite, I'll be In back, immunity Learned well in the days, rug up when it's cold And seasons don't change; parasol packed Speak well, bleed with tact Sleep poorly, dreams intact For the forest, got the trees tapped Get the sugar high, crash As the child I was, all I've become Long days gone so I'll relive and rehash I think I wrote this before I didn't feel more then, don't feel it now Call a poem lore building, numb at the ceiling keep the tremor and the drive housed Learned all I know, spewing from the mouth Keep that shit down, Keep that shit down Keep that shit down No son of mine gonna make all the same mistakes now Last night in a room, no composure Field work psych degrees by composers Blood on the sleeve; plead with the donors For the audience, beast in the inclosure But their face on the glass like a double exposure Forgot our place and then the moments over

Fuck your disposable, fingers crossed on the odds My papers scrawled, table heaves so I’ll starve There’s eggs and black coffee somewhere underneath Folios and sticky notes are my ears and teeth And all I need now is you But you scare the shit out of me, a familiar tune All you ask for, I can’t provide Fiction and non destructive hope, I can’t lie Ill equipped for the job but vacancy filled Put this kid at the wheel, we’ll get our thrills The child's curiosity can get itself killed If we don’t make a move, they will Breaking scripts unlearned, I see you This is a chance for me to believe you Fuck getting it right the first time,time; take two Take those steps that we need to Check your grammar and fear with what you say I’ll keep loose leaf and sketch in the shade I guess I never tire of ink splatter on page A new rorschach with each fresh coat of paint You come home to find me head to toe Brush in hand, guess I found my flow “You missed the canvas by a mile, don’t you know?” You laughed and I said “Nah, it overflowed.” I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind Lose my mind Lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind Lose my mind Lose my mind I'm terrified of God, and I’ll never lose my mind Idolise divergence stylised A classics just hysterias highlight In a second, for a taste, I’d drop my pride To find that ink pot in the gloom, reach you Sell an opus, leave this room, hit the commune I know I’d sooner pen regurgitations Got my wish for lunacy in my cocoon Realize I shudder to see my work conclude If I’m finished, I’m fucking screwed Just keep going, maybe til’ understood Belabour my points ‘cause the coffees too good Round here For blue skies, I can’t see clear There’s always more parking in rear Start your service career in here We only open at reasonable times So we don’t open Don’t bring that notebook in here Our truth is spoken I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind Lose my mind Lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind I found a freaky new way to lose my mind