machine revving tension

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grace, too
daredevil
greasy jungle
yawning or snarling
fire in the hole
so hard done by
nautical disaster
thugs
inevitability of death
scared
an inch an hour
emergency
titanic terrarium
impossibilium



grace, too

he said i'm fabulously rich c'mon just let's go she kinda bit her lip geez, i don't know but i can guarantee there'll be no knock on the door i'm total pro that's what i'm here for i come from downtown born ready for you armed with will and determination and grace, too the secret rules of engagement are hard to endorse when the appearance of conflict meets the appearance of force but i can guarantee there'll be no knock on the door i'm total pro that's what i'm here for i come from downtown born ready for you armed and skill and it's frustration and grace, too

daredevil

i can't imagine how you feel and this is how you feel you say your name like your no longer convinced but now they're strapping you in and closing the lid and they're dropping you in what's done you did the bell's picking up speed there's water leaking in that ol' equilibrium just starts to spin and spin do you like to be judged or liked do you like it inside a barrel plunging over the falls curious and grim we wrestle at the rim we wonder all about him and the point of it all i'll be short and brief and to the point the fighting has resumed in that tone of voice the plague is exhumed he said "what i'm going through is essentially all true made no less amazing by the fact that it's see-through" you like to be judged or liked and you like it inside a barrel plunging over the falls strong and green and dim it wrestled him like nuthin out out out and into the thrill of em all and the real wonder of the world is that we don't jump too

greasy jungle

greasy jungle metropolis noir easy tangles the easiest so far ah i drove down your road to hazeldean where i tasted your funeral home's sandwiches and coffee i saw your hands melt into one another i saw you grieve and grow care alot about one another i stood at your sink and i felt your warm water i washed your dishes and i looked out your kitchen window where i saw a soulful gymnast melt in the air and shudder just above the snow making moves that just weren't there ah velvet callow with wet hands i turned out the lights and breathing shallow hesitated then went upstairs where i picked up your housecoat dried my hands and touched your hair and just then you awoke you could never really barely care ah greasy jungle metropolis noir

yawning or snarling

one day in el paso the cops go into the crowd under a glaring bladder of light and the music is so loud and the tourists take their t-shirts off a busload of kids gives you the finger afternoon when the sidewalk's hot and the shadow's too chilly to linger walk past damaged goods and ugly trends past a strawman making a purchase downtown where the river bends they're just waiting for you to resurface take a look at this photograph clearly his teeth were bared he coulda been yawning or snarling the story was never clear one night in el paso the cops go into the crowd under a throbbing bladder of light and the music is just so loud and the tourists turn their t.v.'s off and a bat sees a bug with the sound of a linger night time when the shadows cough and you're chilled to the tips of your fingers walk past damaged goods and ugly trends past ol' strawman making a purchase downtown where the river bends they're just waiting for you to resurface take a look at this photograph clearly his teeth were bared he coulda been yawning or snarling he coulda been anywhere

fire in the hole

you triumphed over will you had immunity to kill you had your dreams fulfilled and i love you still but there's a power beyond control there's a fire in the hole ah the nights are getting cold all your secrets will be told turn your lanterns low as long as you can dig up proof as cold as water through the roof brutal as depicted truth that kid's a fuckin goof turn your lanterns low but there's a power beyond control there's a fire in the hole yeah the nights are getting cold all his secrets will be told turn your lanterns low alright i'd like to stand up soon and show i'd like to let some people know i'd turn my bucket over i'd turn my lantern low but there's a power beyond control there's a fire in the hole yeah the nights are getting cold all my secrets would be told turn your lanterns low alright alright

so hard done by

interesting and sophisticated refusing to be celebrated it's a monumental big screen kiss it's so deep it's meaningless one day you'll just up and quit and that'll be it just then the stripper stopped in a coughing fit she said sorry i can't go on with this yeah that's awful close but that's not why i'm so hard done by it was true cinema a clef you should see it before there's nothing left in an epic too small to be tragic you'll have to wait a minute cause it's an instamatic yeah that's awful close but that's not why i'm so hard done by just then the room became more dimly lit as the emcee carried on with it and now that i got you all strangely compelled i'm afraid that candy's not feeling well close, but that's not why i'm so hard done by

nautical disaster

i had this dream where i relished the fray and the screaming filled my head all day. it was as though i had been spit here, settled in, into the pocket of a lighthouse on some rocky socket, off the coast of france, dear. one afternoon, four thousand men died in the water here and five hundred more were thrashing madly as parasites might in your blood. now i was in a lifeboat designed for ten and ten only, anything that systematic would get you hated. it's not a deal not a test nor a love of something fated. the selection was quick, the crew was picked and those left in the water got kicked off our pantleg and we headed for home. then the dreams ends when the phone rings, you doing alright he said it's out there most days and nights, but only a fool would complain. anyway susan, if you like, our conversation is as faint a sound in my memory, as those fingernails scratching on my hull.

thugs

everyone's got their breaking point with me it's spiders and with you it's me thugs in perpetuity when we're excited little birds around the feeder the cat's indifferent or he's just furious it seems that he's never neither i do the rolling you do the detail i do the rolling you do the detail hairbird plucks a hair from a sleeping dog to build her nest she said i've looked around and i like your hair the best i do the rolling you do the detail i do the rolling you do the detail ruby, honey are you mad at your man?

inevitability of death

puffy lips glistening skin and everything comes rushing in we don't go to hell memories of us do i get a sense of connectedness exclusive tight but nothing dangerous we don't go to hell memories of us do and if you go to hell i'll still remember you but i thought you beat the death of inevitability to death just a little bit i though you beat the inevitability of death to death just a little bit terry's gift is forever green it got me up and back on the scene we don't go to hell just our memories do fantastic gap commom space open concept in your smiling face we don't go to hell memories of us do and if you go to hell i'll still remember you

scared

i could make you scared if you want me to i'm not prepared, but if i have to he said, i can make you scared, it's kinda what i do if you're prepared, here's what i propose to do you're in russia and more than a million works of art are whisked out to the woods so when the nazis find the whole place dark they'd think god's left the museum for good i make you scared, if that's what i do if you're prepared, if i have to if i make you scared and you pay me to if that's the deal now here's what i can do for you now there's a focus group that can prove this is all nothing but cold calculation tests have shown that suspicious or hostile their lives need not be shortened truth be told they can live a long, long while tickled to death by their importance if you make me scared, if that's what you do if i'm unclear can i get out of this thing with me and you if you feel scared, a bit confused, i gotta say this sounds a little beyond anything i'm used to now there's a precious few that can prove that at the root this is all nothing but a cold calculation clearly entranced, you're leaning back now defanged destroyer limps into the bay down at the beach it's attracting quite a crowd as kids wade through blood out to it to play ok you made me scared, you did what you set out to do i'm not prepared, really had me going there for a minute or two he said, you made me scared too, i wasn't sure i was getting through i gotta go, it's been a pleasure doing business with you.

an inch an hour

i want a book that'll make me drunk full of freaks and disenfranchised punks. no amount of hate no load of junk no bag or words no costume trunk could make me feel the same way an inch an hour two feet a day to move through night in this most fashionable way. there's this fuckin band you gotta see they used to scare the living shit outta me. no frothing dog no cool insanity no "rock n' roll" no christianity makes me feel the same way an inch an hour two feet a day to move through night with very little else to say but i'm helpless less with the people than the space no struggletown no bemused trudeau no solitary walks through vacant lots in moonglow tonight the winter may have missed its mark you can see your breath in springside park coffee-coloured ice and peeling birch bark the sound of rushing water in the dark makes me feel the same way an inch an hour two feet a day to move through life with very little else to say but i'm helpless more with the people than the space i mean i'm helpless less with the people than the space you see, i don't know neil i don't know neil

emergency

i've often dreamt of a conversation that just keeps coming up again and again. we're sitting in the baby bar bereft at a shadowy table out past the sentences end. from until it's no longer fun to that's no longer relevant. from until we're no longer one to the bona-fide embodiment of an endless emergency without end. we're an endless emergency without end we often stop in these conversations, things we say here stay here forever amen. when everything seems either funny or lousy, funny or lousy, that's where it usually ends. from until we're no longer fun to that's no longer relevant. from until we're no longer one to that's no longer permanent. from the last survivors of those terms to the bona-fide embodiment of an endless emergency without end. we're an endless emergency without end. we're an endless emergency without end, but your finger starts to wiggle and landscapes emerge

titanic terrarium

growin up in a biosphere with no respect for bad weather there's still roaches and ants in here so resourceful and clever. her greatgrandfather saw the future didn't know nothing bout panic, he certainly probably thought that it was unthinkable. there's a trace o mint wafting in from the north so we don't fuck with the 401 it's bigger than us or larger than we bargained i guess it's just not done. his greatgrandfather worked for goodyear he'd see the blimp on sundays wonder what the driver knew about making rubber tires. terrarium, o terrarium there's submarines out there under the ice avoiding and courting collision an accident's sometimes the only way to worm our way back to bad decisions, my greatgrandfather was a welder he helped to build the titanic he didn't certainly think that is was unsinkable. building up to the larger point with an arrogance not rare or pretty we don't declare the war on idleness when outside it's cold and shitty. we stay inside and try to conjure the fathers of injured and faking if there's glory in miracles it's that they're reversible terrarium, o terrarium

impossibilium

i love you even when i don't even know i'm doing it and dismiss it out of hand cause i don't even know i'm doing it but your finger starts to wiggle and landscapes emerge can you spare some change dear, we've only got three hundred feet to go roses are worth more dried than alive such a thing to say o how i adore you when you reinvent a rose cliche can you spare some change dear we've only got three hundred feet to go and with impossibilium for a payload we lift the rocket out of the pocket nothing can stop it roses are difficult everywhere you must promise me you'll stay these longstems are freakish if anything but we can cut em down for the vase can you spare some change dear we've only got three hundred feet to go and with impossibilium for a payload we lift the rocket out of the pocket nothing can stop it we can only watch it