This one is for Jo and Shell who have always been kind with their views on my sporadic writing spouts. Hope you both are doing well.

This pocket of space between the city and you,
This orange world, the world we know,
When we drive down a dizzy evening,
With your words in my head, singing.

The wind blows green when I touch your face,
And the earth slips by like a whisper under sheets,
Heaven swells and sighs as you stare out and say,
'How I wish it was a rainy day.'

This pungent life overpowers those flowers,
The ones you picked and threw my way,
The din of disappointment loom large here,
For streetlights steal the spaces where we stayed.

I stare far away sometimes,
And think of the skies you drew for me,
In a city that runs to catch up with nowhere,
I miss you when I wish for a rainy day.

Look here now, these ambitions lie still,
We talk in whispers here, no more lunching now,
There is more tea to silence those,
Those who disturb the air,
That still, artificial, conditioned air,
My heart is tearing open here,
This place right opposite you,
This place next to your indifference,
My heart is ripping open,
This shirt is wet with shame now,
There's a deadline in my eye,
And music in my ears,
Another year and I'll be done for,
Another year and I might leap.

Swallow that heart and look straight,
That still, artificial conditioned look,
This music right next to your indifference,
This music right opposite you,
My voice is ripping open, here,
Look, my head now deaf,
My head is now a world,
Now a universe, now a void,
Now a memory, now a static,
Swallow that head, look straight now,
We don't have time for a lump in your throat,
We don't have room for permeable shields,
Buck up! Buck up now, we'll be back here,
24 hours at late and we'll be back where we started.

The world revisits, every now and then,
To watch over ambitions paused,
To watch if they'll dare to move,
Every night, I hear them rattle,
Every night I hear a broken heart weep,
Every morning I watch this picture in my head,
A picture of you and me, this time to keep.

All the women and their silver wigs,
The men and lonely songs that follow their drinks,
There are handles here to keep you from falling off,
And shared cheap reasons to hold your ground.

You can ask for your dose of chaos on the rocks,
And gaze into the eyes of the stranger who wants you to talk,
Rub some glitter into the pit of your palm,
And call them stars when the silver wigs drop.

This dance of complexity is the order of my life,
The world is a raging bar that churns,
The world is six walls and a hundred feet on your chest,
Find a prayer and pick your corner to burn.

Yellow cabs observe through worried mirrors,
When I stare at streetlights passing fast,
This city is crowded with lost glass slippers,
And five feet boxes of lives ajar.

You wore orange on your lips when I worked my hands by,
Like a liquid pool of sunrise that burst upon my skin,
Time is but a pawn of hope, she whispered as we parted,
I watched as love quietly suffered your cost.

They hum prayers under muted breaths,
Some chant through their friday night journeys,
When I watch the sea run by these rusted carriage railings,
My heart wells at the thought of where you might be.

These days are filled with fragile dusks and dawns,
How many have I seen in passing with you?
How many have we broken through promises you made,
I'll map them on the sky and hope you find me some day.

If home is where the heart is,
I should stop where you begin,
And revel in the taste of a different familiarity.

I have no exotic words to offer,
Or short promises to make,
No earth bound ships and hardwood floors,
Or lighthouse beds to take.
You walk on like the world does,
Ignorant of the chaos under your skin.

If home is where the heart is,
I should run through your closed doors,
I should wake up soon enough,
And make peace with this thread of hope.

I like this time of the night,
Between yesterday and today,
A period of transition
Is when I have my dinner,
Not that it tastes any better,
But hey! Another day is just
an hour away, but,
Is it any different?

Two degrees of separation,
And thirty minutes to add,
I want to meet my seventeen,
And tell her it'll all be fine,
I was alone then,
I'm simply lonely now,
Two degrees of separation,
And ten minutes to midnight.

Dessert during transition,
I like to make a joke
Of routine extraordinaries.
After all, midnight is just
Midnight.

That's two over four,
Like gin over beer,
The rain should stop,
Once this madness unfolds.

You break the fifth
Over the song I love,
In the distance they play,
Truth or dare (now who cares?)

I was like you once,
Angry and indifferent,
Now I simply blind myself,
With more than I care to see.

Sit down, the sun's rising,
Mercury skies hover for you,
Anger's just a tonic boy,
She's already far gone.

Another day for a stranger's stare,
You might find her approval there,
They all come and go,
Between the wreck and shallow water.

Black tea and bread,
Should ease the pain,
Did they only warn you about love?
And forget the morning-after?

Head now, join the robot race,
Black ties and that filthy smile,
They can see your gin stained tongue,
But not the heart it speaks.