Manila - Telethon

Packing all expressions away

Folding the tiny fastener down

Another day will see this manila

Envelope opened again

Where will you be, my friend?

oh

Balcony at a piece of performance art

Or the back booth of a culver’s

Or a Marriott courtyard in some suburb

Of some metropolitan area you’ve never been

When will you be opening it again?

Cannonballing off of the pier

With your new bleach blonde hair

I remember you well, but not why we were there

Twenty-07, twelve years ago

An impressionist old canvas of impressionable ego

And although I suppose I could take it as proof it’s all makeshift

The way the sun looks from inside of an eyelid

Right now it makes me angry which we’ve learned

Is merely sadness pushing outward, ever outward till it bursts

Oh, we know you can’t be perfect

Could you at least try to be good

So you can say «this came out better than I thought it would»

Ideally, by the time you settle down

You’ll bring a lightness to your town and all those around

Remember: every mayor, beloved NBA player, every saint’s

Been caught in the perennial cliche you’re living now

Siphon off a bit of the poise you seek

Shaking your head glibly when they try to read your face and they guess you’re

a pisces

As if you’ve ever thought of it for longer than a minute

As if you want to be here or give a shit

Assume they’re giving one back, at this point a leap

«I'm taurus» you crack, and they ask if you have weed

And for the first time in at least a decade, you do truly wish you could say

«Yes I do and it’s really good, let us go obfuscate

This kitchenette we’re in

Because i’m tired of my two friends

I’m tired of congenial misery"

But lying don’t come easy anymore, a hundred shoes outside the door but you

can’t find yours

And Life is full of subtle changes, this ain’t one, to some you’re lame;

but you’re comfortable

Maybe by the time you leave your town

And get a thousand miles down you’ll turn around

Because you miss the stale emotion and the sounds of train stops passing

And all that you can’t stand to even think about right now