a test train rolls through at three in the morning
there are no passengers or stops
my interest level rises and then it drops

my life laid out in dictionary format
I've got a lot of entries under the M's
and they say that Z is not the end

let's all plug in to the telepathic disco
hard up for hand me downs no more
and the Koinos Kosmos gets us through the door

but the rag in the bottle doesn't understand
that the well has a bottom in the other land
brace yourself for some foreign affairs

you could chalk it up but you haven't got a blackboard
you could shrug it off but your shoulder's broke
you could laugh it off but it isn't a joke

and the funeral reminded me to call you
and leave the coordinates for the Bayou
I'm a sleeper agent just waking up

I should have worn a disguise
you should've looked more surprised
you've got me cornered
in color coordinated lake shore drives
ramparts and car parts in an enemy hive
it's intelligence that doesn't come from the mind
but I've got yours on mine

good morning comrade this is good coffee
let's take a walk and peruse the reports
this will look a lot worse than it'll hurt

a blizzard
a mallard
a stillborn Chinese baby speaking backwards
my peephole
in the cabin
keep an eye on loggers preparing for battle
and textbooks glow like they know where we're going
but it's just a guess they planted in the pages
and flags unfurl like they know why we're sewing
a certain kind of stars into the fabric

can't keep topping my count's bestsellers
pieced together in damp dark cellars
flipped out fury
it's a wigged out wish
so creep creep crawl your way into the heartland
when the clocks explode
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

there is no context for this progress
a village epidemic reaches congress
an idea or a light bulb
smashed on concrete outside of the nightclub
a cat with a windchime skeleton
but it's not like he's in charge of city planning
greet the deep sea diver as he dives within
he hides secrets behind all of the paneling

we will find him before
the party resumes
treating cape houses like Egyptian tombs
tricked out tremors in my nervous system
don't sink sink sink sink sink into the pavement
when the clocks explode
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

wave backwards to Massachusetts
we'll sing a crooked path back to our home

trouble comes, the mail arrives
I pick apart a broken watch
I'm on call with astronauts
here's an acrobatic lot
Telemundo is for free
but not something that you could see
everybody falls asleep when oxygen dies

hundred horses, hundred wines
that's a secret, that's a lie
here's a planetoid connection
that they caught and tried to hide
paranoid's a boring game
jealousy is just the same
hit me with the hammer when the light turns green

plaintiff's here, jury's gone
down at the Dairy Mart
absolutely no exception
specially for you
made inventions, broke conventions
raised a glass to new pretensions
meta-meta-meta-and the novel is dead

no more talk of mathmagicians
numbers can't be ever tricked
I propose a superstition
always mumbling, never sick
a way to increase your sales
never question, never fail
I was born in Vermont
she was born in Vermont
and we'll all die in Vermont hallelujah the hills

I prepared a tin hour glass
simple instructions
for a man with lion's breath
my feelings are pre-determined tonight

a man so often the best man
he fired a gun
that shot wedding rings on the fingers
of his best friends
of his family
of his enemies

the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

are you afraid
of the unguided mind,
of free association?
nonsequitors built this nation
please understand
or better yet please take my hand
and look at the shape I'm in
I've been drinking the gin
we found in Evan's mom's basement
my excuses
are so useless
and then the choir sings

the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
the house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on speaking through you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on waiting for you
and I am the filibuster it's true
I'm gonna keep on, keep on

The house is all lit up
all lit up
all lit up
all lit up tonight

hallow down the hall
have you written?
I was gone
wake up my souvenirs
add three and two I spotted you
but who could stand to follow through?

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

stupefied again
in the autumn of our father's den
I came to with a canker
drinking from the faucet
trying to save some water and a friend
I knew he'd operate

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

I'll shine the light
though it's not flattering
on your wishes as they are
telephone mom, she should be next to me
notify dad, it's common decency

then wash the dishes while your secrets leave home
call the news tell 'em to leave us alone
we all fit on this embarrassing throne
but anyway
listen for the sound of subtle atrophy
while he's tethered to a broken phonograph

back in school again
you didn't think I'd abandon you my friend
here comes a silver bullet
to skim the leaves of poplar leaves
and blessed be the minor keys
I'm so in love with you

raise the flag
raise the flag
raise the flag
of your sibling's favorite daydream

here's the crux of the cameraman
buried deep in his master plan
here's a format becoming defunct
a bunch of tapes on a ship that sunk
electric outlet in a public place
so new rappers get to show their face
if you're human and you're feeling displaced
we've got news for you it's the kind
that makes you shake in your boots
and crumble down to the floor

Tommy Beta with his life on pause
his college thesis stored in his parents garage
are you into the olive branch? (are you, Tommy?)
or shooting arrows in an American trance
list your prescriptions on your resume
and polish bullets saved for our prey
add sinking feelings and we'll call it a day
I wear a mask to sleep and it's old and it's made
of clay and I have no idea why I do that

if you're guilty of some heinous crime
I'll write your defense down in metered rhyme
we'll make believe we got it right this time
I've got news for you and me and him and her and us
and everything's crumbling and rotting away
but I'm content to sit here and watch it all happen
with you

we're stealing bodies
so the doctors can study
and improve their technique
they operate next week
on the girl who's embarrassed
that she melted the chalice
with a thought thrown through the air
but she's only half of a pair

cuz Effie's on the other side
she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
off of the devil's hide

we're replacing their bones
with pipes, sticks, and stones
so the grievers don't notice
that their loved ones helped us grow this
translucent creature being housed
by the doubting preacher
reciting the scripture
while the creature paints this picture

of Effie on the other side
she's laughing and sculpting and washing the filth
off of the devil's hide

the trap can't trap you
if you take it to pieces
stop thinking you're somebody else
stop crying and go get some help
stop trying to solve it your self
and you know what else?

her misfortunes fell upon her
call and response
good morning alchemy
start strumming my super strings
it's a wilderness of mirrors and kings
bespectacled devil with wings

it's hard to imagine
anything more terrifying
than dying in someone else's dream
waking up in a coffin of trees
and your soul getting hauled off by bees
and if you think that's too much to believe

a munitions expert
while disarming a bomb
realizes he left the stove on at home
he imagines his house up in smoke
while he renders explosives a joke

I'm a planet, I'm the moon
I'm barely in this room
won't somebody please shake me awake?
put me in the front yard with a rake
it's the simplest of tasks I can take
if I don't want to break
and I don't want to break

the playwright has stage fright
the doctor is sick
the electrician struck down by lightning
burning candles from more than two ends
is that me? I guess it depends
hell, go ask my friends

I'm a planet, I'm the moon
I'm barely in this room
won't somebody please shake me awake

I was born
a teenage synesthete
feeling colors, hearing tastes
and catching my breath
I saw a hawk out by the high school
fly into your brain
I wrote it down
but I won't tell no one
from that I'll refrain

and everything will probably be alright
collective psychosis begone
and everything will probably be okay
collective psychosis begone

I break things by walking by
I accidentally hypnotize
every single motherfucker
locked inside the Newton branch
worst bank robber known to man
rob the bank, that was my plan
didn't even check to see
where the cameras were at
but I always get away
as if I planned it that way
there must be something radiating from me
and my actions make the money move
though my sounds can't really soothe
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

My grandma was a silent star
no words emerged from her famous jaw
at pre-code party
she brought a pile of printed cards
she's rather hold them up then speak
she feared her voice would crack her teeth
and everybody knows
just what cracking teeth symbolize
but she loved the silver screen
and her face in magazines
when she lost her fame
she ran off with a financial analyst
but her movements made the movies move
though her voice couldn't really soothe
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing

odd behavior of poltergeists
insurance salesman killed by knife
everything is game
now that intertitles have bit the dust
the studio system's come and gone
the golden age has turned to bronze
if I could call cut
I'd leave those poor bankers alone
because the logic found in words
quickly becomes absurd
as soon as a light bulb shines
through a celluloid strip
and to equate the two is wrong
but I do it all night long
it's all been downhill since the talkies started to sing
(and then they started singing!)

to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
it's been a long career
of splitting open atoms with government funds
I'll never forget transplanting retinas
and federal agendas that we scorned
dear like minded friends
never forget what you've learned

they've taken my microscope
and my radiation lab pass
I've packed up my pictures
of my dear wife my siblings
and my scientist dad
I'm planning to open a newspaper stand
with a shoe shine chair just for a laugh
while I'm selling the present
my mind will drift back to the past

to all my scientist colleagues I bid you farewell
some of us are religious
but most of us think we're just bones, flesh, and cells
I'll guess we'll find out
when our hearts stop ticking
and our brains stop working so well
can't say I'm looking forward
to being the first one to tell
to my scientist colleagues
I bid you farewell

to all my
to all my
to all my