Lungs rattling like greasy paper bags.
Voice raspy and fag-rough. Drag. Cough. Drag again.
The same words absolving all revolving doors:
"I'd rather be a headache than a bore"

Kid, you should be more hesitant.
I heard you broke your arm trying to punch out the president.

When Napoleon's bride tried to get on his good side,
(her hands like claws and her knees twisted like old thorn trees on the riverside) she said:

"Hello darkness, grand old friend!
I'm finally learning, this candle's burning on both ends."

You know the beast never did stand a chance with belle.
They cleared the nape of his neck
and ran the scissors through the silk in his lapel.
The executioner harrumphed to break the ice
"you boys always look up once and never twice"

So King of Nails, don't you cry
The plank is full of them - and that's good!
You've been fearing the sky will topple over, half-hoping it would

"Dear diary," reads the vellum, "this is interbellum!
I'll only write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"
Jack burns his flag, packs both of his bags
Mother sags and sews bills into the seams of his denims!

The prophetess kicks her laundry hamper,
muttering truths that have lost their temper.
Lives flash in the roiling swells of a highball,
same old names spelled out in lightbulbs.
Gumps guard the great doorway with retractable syringes,
dirt on their foreheads, peddling hinges and locks
When diamond dogs lead you into a cul-de-sac,
just kick the rubble and double back.