Lost Cause by Beck

charlie chaplin

the great train
robbery

broke my heart

in london in

1903
it was only faces
on the train

of people
not money (but still)...

i was sitting
on a broken
chair

looking in your eyes
i

made you smile    
(i loved goodbye)    i
cried it

like wolf and
somehow

i stood up
on

the platform
by myself
and

did it:
i

won.

Train Leaving Gray by Mason Jennings

retro

today i see things
slanted

(crooked)

like a hook
on a sideways
mountain,

crushed in all my
(m)

(c) squared

escher-ness  and
i crumble
down the hill,

jack and jill as
i can get.    i
see things

tilted, today.
hands deconstruct my world
and

draw themselves in circles

as i slide circumspect across
the floor.

so sue me.

I Saw by Matt Nathanson

soundless

on stage muffled sound
like it

is in snow

i look   outside my window
and see

the second snow

this year. echoes of
your acoustic guitar
flail

off the railings
and come back to me

afternoon passes
with me here,
chin up    but  eye

lashes
gray
as the clouds

i keep my heart posted
to the sky,

hoping you will
come again,

maybe three times this year,
and

make my eyes see
(or hear) cold

and
happy...

Lovely Fool by Jack Savoretti

taconic

i got a bad case
of

the lonelies

last night
i walked in the kitchen
and

saw my flower
on the windowsill

all bathed
in
christmas light

(and)

the way she leaned into the cold
and bowed
her amaryllis head

i had to fight
back tears.

they're gone now,
they're

all gone.
even

when the sun shines
she

remains
in the mountain state of

timelessness.

Fallen From the Sky by Glen Hansard

after

two days later   i
trudge

through stepped-in snow,
adding

footprints to places
where
people have already gone

i

feel the tracks of my tears
seeping in, too,
on

the chasms of my cheeks
beside my eyes

like the ground
beside the tree

stomped to pieces

and
full of snow

that used to be

white    i
trudge,
quietly,
alone

except for the
trodden snow

Pray by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

gifted

the sparkle

in your eyes
is nothing

compared to that angel
on the tree   i

see it long before
it

opens

and on christmas day
the magic

of the moment
overwhelms me so

i point
to

the star, the star
on

top of the world

it shines and we reach for them,
for

the stars...

Away In A Manger by The Greatest Christmas Show On Earth

for richard

someone gave me
this flower

for christmas,
an amaryllis

i place it
on the windowsill  and

it graces all the snow
we have today
in texas

(one single bloom)

precepts
like diamonds

and cowboy boots   i

keep this flower (close to my heart)
like all

precious metals you must

i

hear it growing.
it wishes me a merry christmas

while someone sings
like bing    and

these are happy tears.  (the kind

that look
like flowers...)