a christmas story

i know you don't care for winter...
but darling, it's gorgeous out tonight
let's take a drive away from here
take my hand and i'll hold yours tight

you know how much i always talk
about my summers at the lake?
grand haven is pristine in december, too
you can look up and count the flakes

main street at christmas could be a postcard
currier and ives would love this town
we'll have dinner by the boardwalk
sip coffee and watch the elements swirl 'round

my grandparents have a beach house
its on the lake just south of town
two summers past they gave me a key
and told me to go if the right person came around

we'll i'm sure that you're that person
and you could spend an evening there with me
i'd bet sinatra's on the turntable
and from the living room it's white as far as you can see

if we're warm enough and you can see the pier
i'll tell you of my memories in the sun
at the same time we'll be making our own
you ought to know i cherish every one

as the fire dies down and we're fast asleep
we'll both dream about days to come
i'll hold you close and you'll think of me
and sleep tight knowing we're far from done

i apologize for my writer's block.
so much to say, but i don't know how to say it.

sweat

on days like this you and i
we would spread our wings and fly
but since then we have said goodbye
and now, tonight, i do not cry.

colors came on trees too fast
more quickly than years in the past
just not enough to make us last
and with the snow came questions asked

i dont feel much like writing now
these few lines seem enough somehow
remember when we both said "wow"
summer's sweat dripped from my brow

so it goes on, this game of ball
perhaps it's him for whom you'll fall
i guess you just cant win em all.
but in the end its still your call

bon voyage

this morning came too quickly
we didn't speak when your ride departed
and i missed the clock when noontime came
but caught it when the news had started

the clock laughed at me for a moment
for it was the messenger of time
remind me it waited for no man
not me, not any friend of mine

but in that hour time seemed to slow
and it let me think as it passed
showing a glimpse of sympathy
taking my thoughts away from my task

and as time slowed i played memories
like old movies from a family camera
videos from a time now lost
and photographs in crystal panorama

suddenly that hour was gone
and a new chapter already started
in all of our still fragile lives
entering territory that's uncharted

i know that this will make you better
and i'll be strong while you are gone
memories will keep us close
our friendship is a solid bond

i will think of you often
the memories will keep my world spinning
because we all know that the good times we had
are just barely the beginning

6 days

the sun beats down on our little college town
it's been shining here for days
the rain comes in the evening hours
and we all wake up in a haze

but how i long for the riverside
at home and on the lake
the channel and the sixth street dam
for a yesterdog, i ache

a beat up guitar and a cheap bottle of wine
the state park's beautiful at sunset
cross another day off, it's just a matter of time
we'll be there before we know it

but now it's back to merrill hall
and my messy old dorm room
but do me a favor and smile, babe?
we'll be in grand haven soon.

:)

digressions from a paper on the pros and cons of e85 ethanol fuel

my hours are saturated with things to do today
and none of them are terribly exciting
they remind me that i'm supposed to be growing up
like taxes, filed for the first time
lost in a sea of figures and percentages
dictated by my government, out of my control
they wash over me and make me feel small
like a phone call placed to a potential employer
yesterday, because time does not wait
not for even the most down-and-out college student
who needs money to pay his bills that pile up each month
bills for an education, for a future, to overwrite the present
me.
that college student.
trying to define the term that describes what i am,
a college student.
but i've written before how i don't think i'm the norm
for sometimes these weekends drinking dusk til dawn get old
three days under the influence, stopping only to start again
there must be something more, i know there's something more
but where is it?
i try to find it, looking through old photographs
stages, lights, and music
i was famous. as famous as i could have been in a school of 700
known throughout for feats of performance on the stage.
maybe not so famous, but everyone knew my name.
not anymore, now i'm
a college student.
identified by an institution, by a number and a barcode
printed proudly on my identification card
trying to break out of this mold is difficult.

oddly

a quiet morning
yet oddly, it feels like the afternoon
as if time stopped moving yesterday
and decided to never resume

class is canceled today
and oddly, i was eager to attend
as if i was motivated in my sleep
to learn, so i could pass lessons on to friends

the clocks are all wrong in this room
still, oddly, it seems they correspond
as if they are speaking an ancient language
that i will never comprehend

today's news cackles through the radio
but oddly, it seems so old
as if stories never learned from in the past
have been rewritten, recast, and retold

and so, my life is repetition
yet oddly, it seems quite new
as if life is trying to speak to me:
"today is different, be courageous,
and you will make it through."