individualism.
collectivism.
strike your compromise.
strike a match to the books of history and rewrite it all in one day
if i don't exist to you
then there's no way you can exist to me

i can't sleep at all. restlessly turning in my too-small bunk i hear mutterings in half a dozen languages, deep in dream. seven other shapes in the dark. tossing. turning. no one speaking to each other. i make it down the hall and into the tv room where a television blares foreign music videos at a nonexistent audience. until i show up. jetlagged to the mirrors of time here and i'm wide-awake when i glance up at the doorway and i see you standing there. because you couldn't sleep either. and you were beautiful.

Earmarked

with hands stained black from india ink we smooth the tones of lush, loose rhythms across our tired faces and weary heads. exhausted from the machines and frustrated by the oppression we flee underground to be reawoken in later years. with the fake-fuzz flickering from cnn he drones on in his third grade vocalubary using boring, repetitive sound bites. i wonder if it's all really that hard to not see through. dreams of assassinations. dreams of revolution pervade my every thought and i dream of swimming in lakes on soft, summer nights with the hum of the moon in my ears and the stars reflected on the water. i dream about cool summer mornings in zurich where i'm being chastised by a beautiful blonde girl for being in a phone booth too long. i'm thinking about driving through the desert towards my grandmother's house and just driving past, going further and further west. new mexico. arizona. california.

i think about how the routine just keeps on rolling and progress is being made, but it's not all too exciting my dear. hours are spent, eyes scanning print, poor posture, caffeine dreaming. i trace the coffee traces across the page and wait for another excuse to remain silent. we can retune these guitars a million times, but they're not going to stay that way. your eyes are different now and it's not going to be okay. it's insane how much i'm over you.