NEW YEAR'S KISS

woke up with fingers crossed
in a boy's bed with your pants off
after polite declines of coffee & toast
walked home itching in last night's clothes

past the Phone Booth & the Beauty Bar
the broken windows of your neighbors' cars
through the backdoor to a message from Sis
asking who was your New Year's kiss

took the afternoon to piece it all
plus a half a dozen phone calls
crashed a party with Larissa & Chris
in pursuit of a New Year's kiss

not the way that you'd imagined it
on a balcony with champagne lips
but in a pantry against the pancake mix
you had your New Year's kiss

YOUNG SHIELDS

there's a shield around us
it's invisible & soundless
& we drink too much & xxxx too soon
smoke cigarettes in rented rooms
we quit our jobs & shoot the moon
& cut our wrists & sleep til noon

there's a shield around us
we're invincible & boundless
& we're on the run from I don't know
we're Patty Hearst & Squeaky Fromme
asleep on subways far from home
you'd think we'd never seen a comb

sent a letter to Mom & Dad
Mom & Dad the money's running out
got a letter from Mom & Dad
they didn't send me anything

there's a shield around us
we are heady we are groundless
& we burn our friends & kill their names
build insecure & petty fames
& tattoo things that we believe
stars & skulls & hearts in half-sleeves

there's a shield around us
tell me how is it you've found us
cause we hide our tracks & watch the ground
our footfalls they don't make a sound
we've cursed the names of our hometowns
we're compassless & nowhere bound

sent a letter to Mom & Dad
Mom & Dad the money's running out
got a letter from Mom & Dad
I swear to God they don't get me at all

I LOVE CREEDENCE

I'm Creedence Clearwater Wright
best friend of Elodie Eye
we've been tight since Percy Elementary
class of 1985
we moved together out to Philly after college
took a two bedroom at South & 9th
I sold my violin so we could have it easy
El got her grandmother's money when she died

we laughed like we were queens
& split our ballgowns at the seams
& every single time I'd dream
it was only El & me
but then she slipped away from me
she met a boy from New Jersey
& they fell fast in love of course
I swear it felt like a divorce

this September I'll be 26 years old
& El's the only one besides my dad
who's ever said I love you Creedence

took got a job downtown
it's an hour on the bus each way
typing letters for a lawyer in a bad toupee
it's dumb I know but it pays okay

& did I mention I moved out
I got my own place off of South
& I've been living hand to mouth
for going on a year by now
& yes I still see El around
it's different but I can't say how
she cut her hair it's back to brown
she's living with her boyfriend now

& since September I've been 26 years old
she's still the only one besides my dad
who's ever said I love you Creedence

NASHVILLE PARTHENON

if you ever make it back to Nashville
remember you have still got a friend
I'll meet you at the Parthenon
that's the place we always went

it's been so dull since you left Nashville
I've read the same books again & again
it makes me wish I wasn't bashful
when it comes to other men

but if I could have my way
Darling you'd come home

remember when you moved to Nashville
& the first time that we kissed
remember when your mother found us
remember that you're sorely missed

& when you make it back to Nashville
we'll forget all of your sins
& I still buy two pairs of everything
so when you come home you & I'll be twins

because if I could have my way
I wouldn't be alone

SCATTERED PEARLS

the clasp broke at the disco Mom I'm sorry
& the older men who hit on Becky
nearly broke their necks on scattered pearls
& we searched the best we could
for two entire songs we knelt & felt along
the place where we had stood

but we only found 7 of Grandmother's pearls

& as we rode the bus home I thought surely
I'd wake up tomorrow just to find
that I had dreamed up everything
there'd still be pearls on a string
I wouldn't smell like smoke & I'd still
have the cash that I had spent on drinks

oh I feel as scattered as Grandmother's pearls

Mom don't cry they're only pearls

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
(lyrics by Sam Mickens)

I wrote a performance
for my mother to act in
but she couldn't come

she was taken by fits of rage
unlike anything she had experienced
in her 57 years of life

she felt unfit & unable
& she apologized

the performance was cancelled

HOLLY HOBBY (version)

dear Holly I apologize
I've been telling lies
& you've gotten wise

oh Holly I never meant you harm
it's just romance & charm
with somebody new

& I'm sorry that you fell
but you should have known just as well
you're just a hobby Holly

poor Holly you were always true
& I don't blame you
I would hate me too

say Holly if you give it time
then I'm sure you'll find
someone who still can be kind

& I'm sorry that you fell
but you should have known just as well
you're just a hobby Holly

& I'm sorry that you fell
but you should have known just as well
you're just a hobby Holly

Holly Hobby

COLD WHITE CHRISTMAS

cap & gown in purple & gold
you're 22 years old & a woman now you're told
Aunt Beth & Charlie cut a check for the graduating niece
& you marked your independence with a signature on a lease
but home was a photograph you taped to your wall
it's gonna be a cold white Christmas in St Paul

beer for breakfast who's gonna scold
you've got your early hours dulled by the cigarettes you rolled
second shift as a fry cook that's your holiday in grease
& you trudge to work through the snow in a coat down to your knees
& you linger at the twinkle lights as you pass by the mall
& count the days to a cold white Christmas in St Paul

feather down the nights get so cold
& you ignore the smell of mold as you smooth out the folds
when you're on your own you've got no one to please
in a Minnesota city just as bare & as mean as the winter trees
but you'll be damned if you're the one making collect calls
on a cold white Christmas in St Paul
yeah it's a cold white Christmas in St Paul

BOBBY MALONE MOVES HOME

hey Bobby Malone it's good to have you home
so you tried your own route & it didn't work out
well you're not alone

a job that made you crazy in a town you won't miss
& the drunks you called friends were a means to an end
& this is the end

hey Bobby Malone how you have grown
a couple months on the couch while you figure things out
won't do you wrong

hey Bobby Malone

couldn't make rent again or are you in trouble deep
you're a stray dog with fleas & your sister agrees
you've looked better son

hey Bobby Malone it's good to have you home
a couple months on the couch while you figure things out
won't do you wrong

hey Bobby Malone

DON'T THEY HAVE PAYPHONES WHEREVER YOU WERE LAST NIGHT

I waited up til it was light
don't they have payphones
wherever you were last night

you stumbled in & what a sight
all pale & puffy eyes
under the bathroom bright
a face to give a ghost a fright
don't they have payphones
wherever you were last night