Why We Sleep

Eyes POP open

Listening for something new

Hearing nothing but what’s in my head

Turning side to side trying to figure out the lighting

Raise up or cover up

Dance the day around and figure it is good

Because I slept

Waiting on a signal to jump into the day

Hoping the tension from yesterday is gone

Because I slept

Breathing and hoping

Yawning and soothing

Feeling the acceleration of my heartbeat

Because I slept

I can now hear newness as the light drops

In the right position

And the trees are swaying in the breeze

The birds have a new song

I listen until my heart is safe

Because I slept

* * * * * * * * *

It is time to go back home

It is time to go back home

The chair you left at the breakfast table is empty

No one sits there anymore, not only your chair but all the chairs are empty

The conversations are silent and wisdom is not being spoken

The dishes are left with stale food stuck in time

The laughers and shy times are hidden in the walls

Who can tell when a girl becomes a woman or a boy becomes a man?

Only the silence knows

The replacement of silence is placed in the car with soot and wind blowing ina bag of preservatives and grease fat.

Conversations have become shattered with no wisdom or reasons for care

What is silverware? What is Chinaware? What is laughter in a chair?

I guess the girl is now a woman and the boy becomes a man because of the radio station and Ipod we play

It is time to come home

No one knows their family hurt

The young ones don’t miss the empty chair

Their seat is on the road

Their memory is in a bag

Life is a roller coaster only to sleep at night

And start all over again

Let’s go back home

Let’s sit at the table

Who is mother? Who is father? Who are the siblings?

I want to meet you at the breakfast table, at the dinner table

Where our dreams can be embedded in the walls

It is time for a family reunion

* * * * * * * * *

Selfish Blood

You are where you’ve already been

So where do you go from here

Hardcore, angry, and fearless

Not knowing the blood that was shed for life

Is now shed for death

You’ve tasted blood, and they let you go

Now you need a fix

You guard territory that’s not your own

And spill the blood of your brother

The voices of weeping mothers

And eyes flooded with tears

Not wanting comfort

Only holding on

To the womb

Holding on

To the breast

Holding on

To the joy

Hoping that we will be rewarded for our efforts

Hoping our children will come again

From the land of the enemy

And come again to their own border.