Three Rocks She said she had a vision A dirt road with a wire across An orange flag hanging Some stagnant, dirty water I didn't know the last time I saw him It would be the last time I saw him Three rocks and a pile of leaves That's where we should be looking Ten thousand dollars doesn't seem like a lot of money anymore I didn't know the last time I saw him It would be the last time I saw him I remember being at the reservoir The rain coming down so hard and cold we jumped in the water And the sky and the water turned that same flat blue Now I drive around and put your face on all of these telephone poles

Russian Winters It's been six long years since her graduation in that smelly mill town on the river Falling in and out of love with her friends and with friends of friends The ones who wanted to keep her safe and warm And the ones who fucked around, said they'd always be there She rides her bike to the mill every morning rides it down to the bar at night And every other Thursday she brings her guitar sings her songs with eyes shut tight About the men who kept her safe and warm And the ones who fucked around, said they'll always be there Pack your clothes up, give the dog away You don't need those Russian winters anymore Sante Fe, New Mexico I hear it's pretty in the springtime

Crayons I know you're an angel I can see it on your face Written there in crayon I wrote it myself And I know that you're Mormon It only makes sense And I know that you're selfless You only think of me I know you'll never leave I know you'll never leave me I know you'll never leave me I know you'll never And I know you want children I can see it in your eyes It's so scary here But it might be all right

The Magician's Assistant I used to wear your clothes whenever you weren't around I'd put on a wig, look at myself in the mirror We would drive through the country without any light You'd stick your head out and scream at the stars I like the way you swim The way you jump in the water I painted your body with thick purple paint You sat on the fire-escape and got washed in the rain I made models of all my favorite buildings Blew them up just to say that I love you I like the way you sneak in my room The way you jump in my bed I put pinwheels all around in your room So when the wind came through you would think of me I tapped on your belly and heard the echo I thought this is where a baby should be And now you're the magician's assistant I saw the time that he cut you in two I was there when he kissed you on the lips I watched as he made you disappear And I've been staring at this Wisconsin sky so long Waiting and waiting to be elevated I'm so far from where I was a year ago Living with you on Avenue B

Skinny Santa It's the seventeenth time you've moved and you're only in eleventh grade you feel like a spaceman except nobody knows your name You spend all of your money on tanning lotion you're trying to change your complexion or maybe trying to change who you are You get nostalgic about things you can't remember You try and remember things that never happened Walk into the dressing room strap on your fake belly put on your Santa Claus outfit and head out into the park The way that you start sweating cause it's the middle of July it feels like you're twice your weight and you probably are Take a small square piece of paper and put it in your mouth everything all makes sense now suddenly you're having fun Walking arm in arm with Mickey do a funny dance with Goofy cartwheel into the fountain dancing with all of the kids Painfully nostalgic about things you can't remember You try and remember things that never happened Ride your bike back to the trailer put in a frozen dinner turn on the TV and watch until you come down Through the door walks your mother drunk with her new boyfriend wearing a cowboy hat he shakes and nearly breaks your hand They turn on some music and start dancing across the carpet he's got both hands on her ass now hers are around his neck Boy why don't you dance with your mother he says then sits down so you take her into your weak arms dance and close your eyes You're so excited your face turns red Go on and kiss her the cowboy says Like you mean it like you're a man She won't even notice she's putty in your hands

The Bed is a Liar I heard a voice from this old bed "Did you hear what the window called you while you were sleeping?" I looked at the window without seeing through it The window told me, that bed is a liar "Stop staring at me!" screamed the mirror And threw its image up on the ceiling And in the bathroom the bathtub crying A million tears for its lost babies And in the kitchen the blender spinning And through the window the neighbor mowing I pull the pillow up over my head I can't believe it I'm all alone

Skinny Lady I'm in the basement and I'm trying to be quiet because the super is upstairs, I don't want to get caught I'm lighting matches and I'm lighting papers and they're moving together and it's making me happy One time Ms. Myerson told my mother that I'd stolen a lighter from the corner store And I got mad and I tried to burn down her apartment but the fire-trucks came I know that something's not right, I know that I'm not right Fire is a skinny lady dancing up towards my ceiling The way she moves is so hypnotizing I can't stay away from that red-headed girl Fire is a dancing lady Whirling and twirling and I'm so in love Fire is all around me It's a red-head girl and I can't stay away Books and leaves and gasoline some old wooden boxes, an abandoned car If someone gets me really angry I can't help it, it's like pushing a button I know that something's not right, I know that I'm not right Fire is a skinny lady Dancing up towards my ceiling The way she moves is so hypnotizing I can't get away from that red-headed girl

Tell Me What Sitting on my ass thinking about Marx Thinking about the decline of the Communist Party Wondering where you are, wondering where I've been It doesn't seem so great, I don't want to clap my hands Tell me where I've gone wrong Tell me why it is so bad When you set out for Arkansas You didn't know I had a brother in Batesville The postcard you sent said he reminds you of me except he doesn't get confused wondering who should get his vote Tell me what I should do Tell me where I can go I want to go sliding in the snow with you and Karl Marx I want to make snow angels with you and him Pictures of you both are hanging on my wall you have me so turned around I don't know who is who My tongue is tied but I can still hold my breath Maybe I can hold my breath forever I don't like my reflection but I like sitting on my roof watching the clouds move across the sky watching their shadows on the ground

Motel Walls Leaning against his car a blue Barracuda Trying to make sense of a map trying to make sense of his life He throws it onto the ground doesn't even try and fold it soon he'll be back in his car watching the needles go up and down Looking at herself in the mirror She says, "Who are you staring at you skinny little chicken girl. How do you have this strange hold over me, over me." "Just look at those legs and your hair I think it's falling out. No wonder no one wants to be with you. No wonder you can't stay awake." Some things I can see I put on my glasses and watch them I look right through these motel walls, I can smell the people here before me A week from tomorrow I'll be driving away And someone else will sleep in my bed A kid walking through a field and everything is perfect He's ankle deep in fresh tilled soil watching a big sky But then it seems he's falling down

Fish Tank Dreamed I was a doctor Dreamed I was a scientist Dreamed I did experiments on bad dogs Tell me what's wrong with me I can't figure out for myself Lying here in my bed all day I dreamed I was asleep You took away our new fish tank You came to get your plaster sculpture You left me here with all your plants But I let them die Tell me what's wrong with me I can't figure out for myself Lying here in the clothes you left I'm Trying to forget what you smell like Dreamed I was a policeman Dreamed I was a fireman Dreamed I had to rescue you But I didn't know where you lived

Wet Brush When you were here last and I was sleeping I could feel your eyes upon me I was awakened by the sound of Wet brush hitting canvas Stop painting me when I'm sleeping Leave my hair in the garbage I'm just a worker on this subway train A simple man I don't want to end up in your portfolio like all of them The clicking shutter sound in my dreams brings me somewhere I don't want to go The bulb flash from your Polaroid Is like lightning inside my head Stop killing me in my dreams Leave my things where they lie I don't want to go to your opening If I care to see my body I'll look in the mirror Why can't we just stay home and fuck Leave your crazy-haired friends to themselves

Magnets If my arms were wings It doesn't mean I would fly And if my eyes were marbles Would you trade me for a pack of cigarettes An old metal doll or a can of worms left out in the rain If my head was wooden It doesn't mean I could float And if my thoughts were flowers Would you pick them all away and Boil some water eat them as if they were soup I want something for nothing at all I want everything all at once I take pictures and I throw them away I find pictures and I pretend they're mine If these hands were magnets It doesn't mean you'd come near And If my dreams were children Would they grow and want to kill me or leave at sunrise while I was sleeping

Fallout Shelter A broken jukebox Jesus on the cross And a tattooed tear run down her face Parents in the ground left her this mess If there was anyone she'd never have come back Tie up loose ends and you could be tied down for life This barren diner off of the main road Plaster falling down dishes in the sink Deer head on the wall staring at her All her friends dead, in jail or raising white-trash kids When she went off to school she thought she'd left for good The days of feeling safe are over Never again will you be holed up in that fallout shelter Eating astronaut ice cream from silver wrappers Falling asleep to Hank Williams

Save Me You throw a cup at me in a loving sort of way In a way that says I love you but I don't know what to do You take a shower then roll with me in bed When we go to sleep at night I keep one eye open We go to the beach and you bury me in the sand I watch the water creep up real slow I'm digging holes and then filling them back up I dig a hole and I jump right down in it Some things are not for free even when they're given to you Sometimes you have to sleep when you've been sleeping all night long One time I had money to burn, I had a million bucks and a dog But I burned the money and I gave my dog away I walk around I'm walking in circles I'm talking backwards and thinking of the circus I dream of Madonna that I'm sleeping right next to her But I can't wake up to touch her and I can't wake up to tell you That I love you Save me from my friends Save me from myself Don't let me walk, don't let me walk on the water Don't let me walk on myself Some things are not for free even when they're given to you Sometimes you have to sleep when you've been sleeping all night long One time I had money to burn, I had a million bucks and a dog But I burned the money and I gave my dog away

For Sadie Mae I told you to go and do something witchy I told you to go out into the night Asked you to kindly do my bidding But I never asked you to be my wife Driving through the desert in our buggies Waiting in a cave for the end of the world Lying on the floor listening to the Beatles I told you the songs were written for us I love everybody, I love me especially I hate everybody, I hate me I've looked at this heart so black and shriveled All I have now is memory I thought when I saw you on the TV Somehow girl you got old on me I love everybody, I love me especially I hate everybody, I hate me

Buck Tempo (Dom Leone) I don't know the time and I don't know the day of the week or the month or the year or my name I don't understand why it seems so important to be somewhere when you're not sure why you came I broke my watch when I put up my calendar I left my map on the roof of my car I need somebody to make it seem worth it To search for a light switch or reach for a star Would you be my clock if I promise not to hang you Too close to the window or the picture of the Pope I won't set you back and I won't push you forward I just want to look in your face and see hope There's so much to do and so much time to do it I try hard to concentrate I try hard to think I got a new oven that cooks food in twelve seconds Now eating's so quick I've got hours to drink Time's unpredictable just when you think that You've learned how to save it you spend all day on hold I need someone who can show me the difference Between using it wisely and just growing old Would you be my clock if I promise not to hang you Too close to the window or the picture of the Pope I won't set you back and I won't push you forward I just want to look in your face and see hope