I Don't Care What You Call Me by David Ford

wednesday

i put on my shoes
and

i had
light bulbs
in my toes   i

turned them on

for light and

i crunched my life
down
to shards
with my feet i

went right through
outside
with
blood

in  my shoes, and with
mercury
rising
in my soul   i

held them
in my

metatarsal heart.

i held the pain of
living without you
as

lights came on
all over the world.

my summer sun and
you turned off the rain  i

fall down
on my knees.

(i jump)  i say hello
to reality

as the glass hearts of all the girls
you kept
in the toe of your shoe

come over me...

I Will Love You by Fisher

driving

half way
through my life i

am just half a cup
of coffee
in my lap

i need a coaster

plastic coatings
on my face
begin to sweat

oh (the agony of being alone)
logos still
surround me i

know

my very breath
each time

exhales onto tomorrow i

wish against wish
that it would
take me back to you,

like blowing bubbles
through

a straw,

or throwing
cream
and

sage-colored boomerangs...

9 Crimes by Damien Rice

wishes

walking
in my
perambulatory state

it is still raining and

anonymity is so hard
to come by any

more i regret not
being in the city.

they recognize
my face
years later  i
tried so hard to change it

but to
           no avail

maybe come with me

to the mountains
monterrey
baby

(the slide) will tell us
everything we
need to know

about snow,
and angels, and

being awake
           in the city...

Paperweight by Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk

hipster

you are
the only one who knows

i am
not invisible
you

you are so far away

i love
you so
incredibly
much  i would

give up
my blackest black
mark

to be with you.
i take away

my own invisibility
cloak by
loving you
and

i wallow, alone,
in that memory.
you, me,

white

flowers...
it is just me,

looking back at you.

i try to see myself
the way

i did before...

Wondering Where You Are by Tyrone Wells

spider

two for one
on the arachnid days  i

blunder through
another
ending

while your sky falls down
and

you wrap
your legs
around
this place,

so sure

it likes you back
but
i don't know.

feels
like we're trespassing

on a
sacred vibe
i'm scared.
they'll

smash us to pieces.
don't
make

me go without you...

They Bring Me To You by Joshua Radin

toil

my haggard wrists

lift me up
into my story

every day
i reach further into you

the end goals i have
solidly in mind,

red candy hearts
melted
in my hands.

i hold very little (to show)
you my
proverbial efforts  i
keep trying

someday

it will come.
my

sorry haggard story
lifts itself up
out of here, it

bears the weight
of all my mistakes
pulling out

the gravity sound

of millions of critics
in the cavities
between you and i

i see
your hand in the dark
i see

how it is in the morning,

every day, without you.
this is

why i write. it is,
simply, a game of

tug and war...

A Falling Through by Ray LaMontagne

vanity

besotted,
i pull hairs out of

my head

like postage stamps.
they'll use them as
forensic evidence.
i

lick the seal and
send them
on their  way

to you,

with love.
oh

the way
you open me up,

cold sores on your tongue,
paper cuts
   on your heart.

your

strings mislead me.
you play

harmonically sad
and misused until
(and so) love

is just like the death
of e-mail,

once again.

and forever more.

Fortunate Fool by Jack Johnson

vengeance

okay,

it's obvious now.
it's clear
who you are,

and what i
have to do.
you are like a leaf

(shaken up)
quite suddenly

i love you

(i see through you).
oh no.

why did it come
to this?
you never
rain in october

much less
snow in the fall oh

my natural vibe

is killing you,
softly, breaking branches
all the time

above your head, baby.

you are just a leaf
and

i am mother time.
(i go on to)

infinity.

Twilight Serenade by Jason Myles Goss

thrice

very bad dream
just now

i dreamed
about alligators.

my poor sweet mikey...

it's not funny.

it was real.

i picked him up in my arms
my dog and i

calling for help.

we were walking in the water
that runs
along the interstate    i guess

it was
apocalyptic.

there were
kangaroos.
    
i kicked him.

(the alligator)

with my pink rain boots
on.
i was

falling
backwards,

mikey
in my arms.

i woke up.  i have

no one to tell...
no one to tell.

Love Your Memory by Miranda Lambert

varicose

i file my finger

nails

with the flowers
your mother gave me

i file them
vigorously

as if
i was washing
my hands of you

i smile

because smiling
is my reflex

it is my natural state

but (with you)
it became much more
it was

my knee-jerk reaction
to flee.

i should have
(you should have)

told me the truth.

it doesn't count now.
it's too late...

like my fingers.

i filed them like paper

long before i knew what really happened.

before i knew
about her.

before i knew
about you..

Come Down To Me by Saving Jane

relief

just one yes
and all

is right
with our world, but

until then:

things crease and burn amid
dire warnings
about phantom buffalo boys
and piglet-induced flu  i

need just one
affirmation

from who you are

and (when it comes)
i will be okay.

i will

feel better.  until then
i swarm myself in buckets

flocks of birds
and vitamin c stretchers
at my feet  i
chase

my own ambulance

with my ambulatory
cravings

for peace...

just one yes.

City by Sara Bareilles

guitar

your nuance
(every word)
i feel it

tearing open
my half-healed scars
(every time)

they dress themselves
in glue and stone

and shred my love
to pieces--

my ripped up paper heart--

i have become
a second

class citizen,
lacking solidly in love.

it's time for a shower.

no one cares...
i know
when i finally sing

i will sing loud
up there on stage

and i will play
and put myself together

and

they will hear me

they will feel me

at last.
all those sorry pieces
i took apart
in kindergarten

might actually mean something...
once again.

they rip apart my sacred heart.

Forget Me Not by Lucie Silvas

animosity

okay,
clearly i'm bananas.

i have this megawatt smile

on my face

like an upward
solar panel,

yet i imply
quite possibly

zero

of the real sustenance inside...

and daily
i peel another
layer of skin

off of my heart.

i lift it up alone,
quite heavily,
to

the furthest, slippery extent.
it's a

hefty price to pay

for hunger.
i play music
like melodies

archaically
with my faulty fingers

while
you apply a diagnosis
of my current

unappealing situation...

clearly,

i'm bananas.
i still want you.

Whether You Fall by Tracy Bonham

miniature

something sudden hidden
i am

missing you(tonight), i

miss myself.

like headlice or
even larks you are

a bird you keep on
coming back to me

(every spring) but
there has never been
any evidence
of your existence

least of all
in my heart.

i think

i know why.
at least i do now.
you were

just too small
for anyone
to see.

i crawled across the earth
below you,
like a worm in fog

in the early morning rain

(like the smell of fish)

you still linger
in my soul--

empty things missing,

hoping

to be found....

Harder Than the Fall by Ruthie Foster

yearling

what do you mean,
hello?

it has been a year.

long silence

and then
copper boom

you must
have thought about me
in between, you

wrote on my wall.
must

have been a mistake.
4 a.m.

whiskey.
it happens.
could you?

no one else
can see it.

oh, mae,
sometimes

you're in someone else's
arms
inside my dream, i

saw you there
last year
in september.

you saw me, too.

i would have died for that.

i just wanted
to hear you
say

hello...

I Should Go by Levi Kreis

murk

days like this
i miss

the old marsh the most

the birds hovering
over grasses
still green
and lonesome blowing

in the wind,
gray skies

playing above them.

shifting things,
blunt fresh air
in your face

your clothes swirl
like clouds
around you

and your life sprawls

out below you
like a valley.
the old marsh:

flat
as i am small...

days like this,

i realize
who i am

without it.

Lullaby by Mare Wakefield

endless

i played chicken
with a pick-up truck...

that's what it was like,
loving you.

the fear
of crashing
never even
entered my fettered mind:

it was just about winning.

i never
back down

(least of all
from love) and

all the ways you have found
to deny me,

well, they won't even matter

in the end:

except to
weigh you down

with knowing
you could have had me,

but

you were
just too chicken...

Just The Same by David McMillin

page 81

it was easy,

until i got to you.

the soggy mess
you left
in my heart,

well,
it's like cold cereal
left too long
on the counter.

it's like week old milk.
some of it

clings to the sides
of my brain
like curds

on the memory
of you,   thoughts
churning:

times we spent together,
words
we milked

out of each other's lips...
on a roof

in august.

we were hungry.
it's all in slow motion now.

my stomach growls
just thinking about it.

it longs for something real.
sustenance. yes,

it does. but i
just threw you away.

i left you in the sink,
my heart
like a spoon
at your feet.

good thing i did.

it was way past my
expiration date.

yeah.

but it's still so hard,
so fresh,

to write about you.

it takes everything i have.

Glitter in the Air by Pink

tyrannosaur

why would you

take it,

that picture
of the two of you
and post it

right there
in my face...

you and a girl.
she's just a
dirty reflection

of me
in that window.

all my pictures of you,
the ones of us,
deep and deeper

in my heart...

you used to say

it looked a lot like
straw berry
galaxies

well,
we drove backwards
on that road
too many times, and

i will never
see myself that way
(the way i did that day),

backwards in the mirror.
i was

the girl
on your arm.

like peaches and cream....

grimy,

but pretty.

A Sorta Fairytale by Tori Amos

dreaming

restless night:

a thousand phantom chirps
and

here i am,
three a.m.,

wide awake
inside flowers
on my pillow

beside nowhere.

i open the window.
things are much

 too quiet.

faster (slower)
than you think

there is just
one thing

(i lack one thing)

it always works
to make
the pumpkin matter

but
i'm not vain
enough to try it.

he's quiet.

out there, in the night.
so

i roll over.
on my side.
i pick my

heart up in my hands
and

throw it back to you...

Better by Toby Lightman

audit

help me

they said
my eyes are
different sizes

all wrapped up
one sees

you in blue,

the other:
not so good.
we

are caught
in
a love triangle

with you.

they close
without opening.

there will be
no deviation
from the rule of thirds, love:

it is set in stone.

like my eyelashes.

sometimes
things look different
in mirrors.

my self portraits
are a study

in diameter...

Can't Help Falling In Love by Ingrid Michaelson

snap

cold
and colder

(cold) in
nights so short

you could
wrap a song
around them:  i

haven't been sleeping,

lately,
without you.

things feel small.

my boots,
and my hat:   i
cover my self up

with scarves,
the scars

you left hanging on my
threadbare soul...

my edges fray
like

christmas trees.

i try to camouflage my pain,
to flock it with snow,

to tie it up with bows...

Baby I Want You by Amos Lee

jaded

why is it
every time i look

for you

somebody else is
chasing you through tennessee...

i had a bad dream.

paris was in
elizabethtown kentucky.

you.

you were my horse, baby.

you had sparkle
in your mane.
(lucky boy,

lucky girl).
please

just
set me free in tennessee
one last time,

i'm begging you.
that cross country drive

has got me jaded and
i need you
like horses need the wind.

next time,

don't walk
away from me.

let's run, baby:

let's run.

Dreamin' by Amos Lee

lake wood

all alone
in paper arches, the sky

threatens (me) to bloom.
out of flowers

i lay
undone
on the desk.

i make them solid
out of paper.

winds blowing,
birds folding.

origami
in my heart...

they say
i may be a girl.

i don't know.

maybe i'm a crane.

white trees creased inside my hands
begin to swirl.
the birds

unfold their wings.

without you,
my shapeless ways make horizontal planes
on the horizon:

on the smashed up,
creased up world.

i made myself an
origami bird

for you...

The Rain Don't Last by Hope

resounding

then   the rains came.

every time i run,
i   do it better.

without you,
i have no fury.

water's just a thing
God keeps  in the streets.

it makes me hungry.

i don't know
when it will end:

 but i came prepared.
and so,
when love hits,

(like a lightning bolt)

i'll be able to
hold you

upright in my arms,

and tell you:
this is what i've been
waiting for.

this is why
my face

is soaking wet...
it was a storm.

a storm of love.

for you...

You're So Vain by Brooke White

edible

singer,
sing me.

you, alone up there
in your light

the stage   you
are the only one

i hear   things
i didn't know about you

but you--

you stand for
something

so much bigger
than yourself.

i watch your
shiny hand:

raise it to the sky.

i wonder
why you sing,   why you
open up your voice

your throat  to the world
to the wide old world

(you make me feel)
they

might hurt you, singer.

sing.

but me:
i always

keep you in the light.

(it is in my heart).

Cry Sometimes by Kate Earl

unbridled

baby in a broken sling

they clip my wings:
hard.

fly to me

things cry
like they're two weeks old
and

somehow

you are that lack
of air
within my lungs:

a flu on time.
and i miss you.

baby,
i miss it.

i am hoarse and
things don't look the same

they shaved
all those manes
off of their heads

the pretty horses
raise their paws

they prance
all over my heart

and

they don't even
know
what it looks like.

baby,
i miss you.
young things

are born
without you.

After All by Doria Roberts

whitening

you have no idea

how much sway
you have
over me.

you say flock
and i fly to friggin sydney

before you can say
what for,

but i rejoice.

because without you
i would be
a bird with no direction.

things happen.
winds blow.

my course will never
change,   but some
times it helps
to know, impossibly,

that the way i flap my wings
is not yours.

it belongs to me.

and so, when i go where
you bid me to go,

i always keep a bit--
a tiny bit--

of myself,
inside my feathers.

Hit the Ground by Lizz Wright

posture

the way
i walk
backwards into walls

i need somebody's
eyes back there

behind my head.
all i see
is your face

waving goodbye.

that slight tip of your head
  that you do,

your oakleys damp
on the bridge of your nose:

i had to drag myself
over the threshold.

no no no
i better look forward, baby:

i might run into walls.

things hurt.
i do it to myself.
but looking back at least

i can't see
your face
at its saddest,

your eyes that remind
me of me...

Coming Home by Lizz Wright

peanut butter

i will
write you unnecessary letters

until you love me again.

mad-ly but
truly deeply i say
i

might have jumbled things
up, but anyway

we call truce. jinx.
things you say
are magnified   they

increase the cat-like span
of     my life

and i want

you to know
what it means  to me

to wake up

with half
a sphere in my hands,

desperately longing
for you (to be)

the other side. like toast.

we can put us together.

love is like
strawberry jelly.

things get sticky,

and sweet.

Plant Me, I Will Grow by Chris Buhalis

little voice

you left

you left a little piece
of your soul here.

take it back.

my boss told me
today, she said
i'll break you

we'll break you
of that.

break me of you.
i like

coming round corners
and saying hello
to the wind
as it greets me,

like it does in new york.

city lines and
building streets:

they all come round
the wind
when she blows.

i am here, lady:
this is who i am.

my buildings just don't break.
they all

love resistance.