Firewall

From The People's Key digital booklet:

I do my best to sleep through the caterwaul The classicists, the posturing avant-garde I bought a grey macaw named him Jules Verne He'll probably outlive me he's a bright bird Keeps me company I teach him new words

I saw a hologram at the theme park She looked as real as me through the white fog Then she melted down to her ankles Turned into a million-watt candle If I knew where she went I would follow

Walking through the land of tomorrow Martian trinkets, plastic Apollos In the sunshine try to act normal My veins are full of flat cherry-cola Slept on a bench by the rollercoaster

Dreamt I was riding on a motorbike Lion of Judah painted on the side

I'm doing fine, I'm back in the Palisades Life's a wash, a pastoral school play China shops and cold ivory towers I and I make toasts to the Caesars Forcing down the dregs of Decembers

Madeline she spins in a slow bang All through the house the strong smell of burnt sage Let's make it clean and run out the spirits I know a diving bell when I hear it We're going down now under the surface

Light to dark can shift in an instant Feeling close but keeping my distance On all fours she's just so insistent Fills my mind with jump ropes and slit wrists Bust through the Firewall into heaven

Then I'm standing in that blinding light Crooked crossed falling from the sky

Seen yeah seen by I and I