Under Pressure

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

Plan out what you would say if you only had the chance,
then waste your only chance.
And tell your self that no one ever listens,
no one ever listens to your silent rants.

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

Make a list and check it zero times
until the day that everything is due.
And stay busy enough all that time before
to convince yourself that they did this to you.

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

Scatter all your clothes across the floor
and stack all of your dishes in the sink
and christen it a cosmic cleaning party
when you finally clean it up so you can think.

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

Find thirty books that you would like to read
and check them out yourself all at one time
and read them while you listen to an audiobook
like it's a race to fill up your whole mind.

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

And someday take a break and just sit down

and think about how life has been so crazy.

And realize this has only been a warm-up

and now it's time to really be amazing.

Let the pressure build,
let the pressure build,
let the pressure build!
I do my best work
under pressure.

Thrown Out

Rice and Beans

Even rice and beans aren't free,
and neither one grows on trees.

Mess

What About Ourselves

We make our homes beautiful
to sell them.
And what about ourselves?

Made It Happen

Thank you for coming and making me stick with it to the end.
Maybe I did it, but without you it wouldn't have happened.
Come anytime, yes, please come again.

Surprise

When you wake up in the morning with a list of things to do,
and a sleepy-headed husband says that there's a gift for you,
and that it's bigger than a breadbox and that it is upstairs,
and you look but cannot find an item waiting anywhere,
but you go outside to check if he forgot it in the car,
and you find a different car where you thought that you had parked…
well then jump up and down and turn around and quick run back inside
and run to the guest room and find your sleeping sister! That's a great surprise!

Procrastinator

There are some things on your list that you should just do "later."
And by the time you get to them, they'll be unnecessary.
And that's one of the benefits of being a procrastinator.
It's amazing what can happen while you tarry.

Hollow

I'll hide you in my bosom

like an owl in a hollow,

and you will find it full and warm

with sustenance to swallow.

Feast Tonight

If the food in the freezer flooded into the fridge
so the fridge food fled to the countertop,
let itself by diced and chopped,
then chose the frying pan over the fire,
there'd be a feast tonight.

Cover

I could waste my time
thinking it's all mine,
writing my own rhymes,
thinking they're so fine,
thinking I'm so cool
making my own rules
teaching my own school
of thought, like I'm not
just using the same words
everyone has heard
plowing the same dirt,
feeding the same birds,
surprised that nothing grows.
Don't I know
half of this is just for show?
How does the story go?
Oh, yeah: everyone dies,
maybe loved ones cries,
we dry off our own eyes
because it's not really a surprise.
At least we died wise
or at least we tried
but what's left of our lives?
A song of sacrifice
is the one (the one!) we won't forget,
the one that lasting life begets,
and so I'm going to cover it,
yes, that's the song I'll be.
Cover it true, cover it new,
the best cover I can do,
and still I'll need You,
your sacrifice to cover me.

But That's Not What I Said

Why are you getting all defensive

You think that I'm on the offensive.

But that's not what I said.

You think that I am blaming you

that all our weekend plans fell through.

But that's not what I said.

You think that I don't like to wait

and that I think you're kinda late.

But that's not what I said.

You 'pologize for what you wear,

assume that I don't like your hair,

but that's not what I said.

There you go, do it by yourself,

you think that I don't want to help.

But that's not what I said.

And when I turn and walk away

you think I'm having a bad day.

But that's not what I said.

You think it's not my favorite date

when I don't touch what's on my plate.

But that's not what I said.

You say "Well here is the receipt,"

as if the gift is not that neat.

But that's not what I said.

It seems like you're always assuming.

You act like some big news is looming.

But that's not what I said.

Sometimes you look and sigh at me

like I won't ever let you be.

But that's not what I said.

You know that's not what I said,

and if my mind could be read,

oh you'd know, you know.

But that's not what I said.

Give Us Strength

To stay connected without being infected,

to stop being busy without getting bored,

to tell the truth and not forget mercy,

oh give us strength, dear Lord.

One Month To Go

One month to go, and it won't go slow.
I have lots of poems to write.
More than a month's worth, that I know.
Plus, they can't be trite.
Eleven months of ups and downs,
and I'm still writing here.
I might not have written a poem a day,
but I'll have three-sixty-five in a year.

Wasted

A husband buys his wife a gift,
something that she doesn't need,
something kind of frivolous.
The wife puts it in a good place
so when she needs it, it'll be safe.
So now it's lost. What a waste.
And who's the one who wasted?

My Sign

Hung on my neck, like a noose but loose,

is a sign that reads "I have no excuse.

Yet my life is still messy and my brain feels like toast. 

It's my own imperfection that drags me down most."

(In response to this great article.)

If No One Ever Reads This Poem

If no one ever reads this poem,
at least it's not on paper,
so it will cause no trees to fall in the forest.
But even so,
as I write,
there is a tree falling.
We just don't hear it.

Make Sense

It was all gonna make sense.
It was all gonna make sense.
It was all gonna make sense
when your answer was gonna be yes.

Miserable

Child of mine, some days you'll think
I made your life miserable so you wouldn't get hurt.
But I want you to know that as you grow
that's not always going to work.
Some days I'll protect you despite your best efforts
but you'll get hurt anyway.
And someday you'll do it to your very own heart.
Maybe you'll play it too safe.

9/11

About half of my life ago
I watched two towers fall
on TV screens in middle school.
I heard worry in the hall
and crying friends with family
on business trips that day.
And we all just wanted to know
if we would be okay.
And we were, to our surprise.
Not much changed for us.
Just one day class didn't happen
and they might have cancelled the bus.
And life went on with news of war
but we hardly understood.
And we got used to confusing news
and knowing less than we should.

Pay For My Past

Balancing the budget,
sorting out the costs,
looking for a way to make
more profits to each loss.

This would be so much easier if I didn't have to pay for my past.
Forgive me, please forgive me, I'd like to ask.

You told me so, you told me.
You knew it all along.
We know the pain I caused you.
I know I've done you wrong.

This would be so much easier if I didn't have to pay for my past.
Forgive me, please forgive me. That's all I ask.

I've wasted precious time,
been hasty with precious people,
and done some very stupid things,
though most of them were legal.

And it would be so much easier if I didn't have to pay for my past.
Forgive me, please forgive me. If you want to receive, just ask.

Mark My Words

Mark my words– with a red pen–
I know I can do better.
I'll be making changes.
For now please make this redder.

More Power

Somewhere, someone has a bigger home
and someone has a mattress with more high-tech foam
and someone wears rarer pearls round their neck,
and someone has more servants at their call and beck.
Somewhere, someone has a sweeter ride,
and someone has a safe box with more inside.
But no one can take a hotter shower,
and if they can, well, to them be more power.

Tight

If we could shove this warmth in our closets
because we know we'll need it in the coming months,
we'd pack it in so tight
the molecules would arrange themselves like ice,
and when we finally got it out, it would be worthless.

Pray the Lord

Now I nurse you down to sleep,
I pray the Lord to make you keep
sleeping for at least an hour
because I know He has that power.
But I may find, that even still,
in this He grants you your own will.

My Brain

My brain can fly,
but it often flits.
And when it runs,
it skips and trips.

Make Up Your Head

The decisions you have to make today–
if you could, what would you pay
to have someone to make them for you?
You can get a maid to make your bed,
but they can not make up your head,
so that is something you will have to do.

Pain

I guess the good thing about feeling this way,
is that I know how you hurt and so I can relate.
But, there's that good thing, so it's not the same.
For you, there's no point of pain day after day.

If I Were You

"If I were you, life would be always be easy,"
says the back of our minds to the girl in the shot.
And then we go back to living our own lives,
surprised and confused on the days that it's not.

Know

Thank you for saying that you don't know.
That's almost all that I needed to know.
It's as important as knowing the answer– you know?