Trace William Cowen.

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Sanity Mirror

Throwing
books and marbles at you
Anchor
drifting brain
Here’s
the keys to every castle
Locks
are all the same

Well

I pawned the books

I lost my marbles

But I’m eating good chow mein.

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Blanket

I’m in the business of
enemies
not friends
Wake up in the morning
to begin again
not end

I’m sitting on
four wheels
Sleeping on
an engine
Turning over
pavement
Splitting
precipitation

And I’m not sure
how much
But I know
this isn’t enough
And I don’t know
what
But I know
this isn’t done

Blanket
I’ve got a fleece
Blanket
in the backseat
Blanket
I’m
Wrapping up!

Are the days long?
Does the song drag on?
I’m older now
than when I was young
That’s what I have learned

Numbers
I’m
Wrapping up.
Twenty
three
Wrapping up.

Digital something
Analog nothing
The cave of the mind
is a cold retreat
Leaving something
for damn near nothing
The promise of a life
is a frozen treat

Work for nothing
Work for nothing
So
one day
when you’re older
You can
Look for something
Look for something

Time remains
at the end of the day
That’s profit
Invest it.
Invest it.

I’m all wrapped up
Snoring.

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The Rabbit Wears a Hat

“I don’t care about anything!”
He says
He pouts
He sits
Without
something to believe in then what of all the dreaming
What of all these dreams?

“I don’t believe in anything!”
She prays
She doubts
She admits
Without
a face to imagine then what of all the magic
What of all these magicians?

I believe in nothing
and I care so much of it.

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Honey

Your pointed finger
looks a bit like a trigger

Bang!
Anything that moves

Everything moves
Life is motion
But please don’t
You often do!
Mistake my movements for emotion

Bang anything that moves

Alright
Okay
We’ll see

I don’t know where that leads me
I’m not sure I’ve been led

Don’t you know they invented God for people like you?
Don’t you know they invented God?

Just a place to belong
Just a home
Just a cheap sing-along
Just a song

Dying to be normal
Well, we’re dying either way
Conformity is just
a comfortable place to stay

Just a place

Everything happens
Everything will
Evolution doesn’t require your participation
or wait for your approval

Life takes place

Pace the room
with a book
Until you hit a wall

Turn to find another
Corner to corner
You are small

But I am big
I am tall!

I’ll be out
Busy
Buzzin’ with the bees

Until they sting

Until they sting me.

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Louder Than _____

Can’t talk about it?

Then song about it
Dance about it
Book about it
Movie about it
Painting about it

Just create about it

And everyone will hear you

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Hum Peasantry

Of all the things that matter
we will soon lose sight
Invite the day
to stay through the night

If we never sleep
perhaps our minds will go to better
Contentment is a siren song
She will soothe you if you let her

Her song is short
the melody is pleasant
“You were and always be
a paltry little peasant.”

She has curves
like rolling waves
See the ocean in her eyes

Crashing crashing
salt and stave
between familiar thighs

When the pleasure breaks
I trickle and shatter
What else in this world
could possibly matter?

I have been
effectively distracted
as my life injected
is swiftly extracted

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That Which is Good, This Which is God

She’ll wear a blue dress and insist on
red
shoes
I can accompany you
Yes, I can be blue too

She’ll talk fast
yeah
nospacesbetweenwords
I can accompany you
Yes, Icanbejumblytoo

She’ll eat spoonfuls but
only
two
I can accompany you
Yes, I can reject three too

She’ll close her eyes but
never sleep
never dream
I can accompany you
Yes, I can be real too

She’ll be on her knees but not for
me
Thou shalt not repeat
Still
I can accompany you
Yes, I can make demands of the sky too

“I demand of you an eternity of silence
No further interventions
I demand of you an explanation
Then quickly you subside
As we dissolve at our own pace
We evolve from our old states
Singing
glory, glory
Hallelujah
I hardly knew ya
glory, glory
Hallelujah
They’re gonna bruise ya

Can we not just live and die
with certainty?

I will live with as little apology as I die

Do not regret your existence
Do not extend your presence

Come
Go
And stamp them in some way
Print something
Sing something
Show something
Love something

And for a while they will remember
For a longer while they will forget

I shook them
But I too will be shaken

They took him
I too will be taken

Can we not just live and die
without Why?
without particles and trying

Beginnings have ends and they rarely start again
Beginnings have ends and they rarely start again
Beginnings have ends and they rarely start again

Without repeating.”

She’ll be on her knees in a blue dress and red shoes
for me
finally
for me
She says
“Thou shalt not repeat”
and stares into the ceiling
I say it back to her
We have divided upon its meaning

Demands of the sky
big endless
demands of the sky
She asks of them the world
but all they have is time

I can not accompany you
Yes, I can close my eyes too
And sleep

Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.

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Markandeya Apple Sauce

Youth are cold
We’ve seen your heat
We’ve felt your fire
Tell me again
how the burns subside
like passing time
these rotting minds
I’m sure you will offer a blanket
Most of us are weak
We’ll take it
But know we once were cold
Frozen
And never old

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Dozer

My feet in
shoes shoes
My feet are
roots roots

In some ground
Or mud

My arms in
sleeves sleeves
My arms are
leaves leaves

From some branches
Or sticks

My head in
blather blather
My head is
weather weather

And it pours
Or rains

So I may grow

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Lima vs. Stockholm, Interrupted by Florence Nightingale

Well, let me just tell you about my madness.
It is mine and mine alone.
It is vast and infinite and empty at once.
Drives me and halts me
Breaks me
Exalts me
With equal velocity
With comparable stalling.
I see everything and everyone and finally see the meaning.
I am captive to reason.
Bound only by seasons
At the expense of anything that happens to intervene
At the given moment
At the taken (omit)

You can only arrive once.
Leave, if you must.
Return.
But you’ve already been there.

You can never leave.

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