A muffled battle cry across the kitchen table A baffling contretemps that shakes the day unstable Confessions from the cab a habit that I got from dad The flurry of departure in a cyclone of cologne Would often devastate the gate and hedge And set our tiny teeth on edge I see it in me now and pledge To knock it on the head that's what I'll do A muffled battle cry across the kitchen table Bridges up portcullis down and round the Tower of Babel I'm babbling in my dreams of blue berserkers coming at me Eyes and tongues and rusty knives And God almighty laughing at me From a fat boy fishing chair I wake to find you laughing there It's nice to know how much you care Decided I should spend my life with you We protect our little fictions Like it's all we are Little wilderness mementos But there's only you and me here Fire breathing Hold tight Waiting for the original miracle I'm trying to focus on the issues of the day please Your paper's upside down The radio's in Chinese These little tremors that are ripping through our rituals That friction up the interaction Emanate from quite the greatest Thing that ever happened to A pair of boozy bowerbirds Like me and you In other words The alligator pear inside of you We protect our little fictions When we bow to fear Little wilderness mementos But there's only you and me here Fire breathing Hold tight Waiting for the original miracle Fire breathing Hold tight Life is the original miracle Let's get old Dare you now Mix blood with me All in Love is the original miracle Let's get old Dare you now Mix blood with me All in Love is the original miracle Love is the original miracle

I spent the day inside I hadn't eaten the whole night I could not sleep a wink I felt so far from alright Thoughts that make my head spin I'll think them all over again To me it's everything To you it's just a passing sight I miss your voice, I hear it sing Through apartment walls, Niagara Street South Oakland, Pittsburgh, 2014 "A majority of the police force has been assigned to the crowded highways outside this deserted city. And citizens remaining in New York may have to protect themselves from the cranks and looters known to be roaming the streets. From the Weather Bureau: The temperature stood at 110 degrees at 11 o'clock this morning. Humidity 91%. Forecast for tomorrow... Forecast for tomorrow... Hot. More of the same, only hotter." "Stop it." "I don't care. Who are they kidding with this weather report stuff? Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow, you can fry eggs on sidewalks, heat up soup in the ocean, and get help from wandering maniacs if you choose. What do you mean, 'panic'? Who's left to panic? Ladies and gentlemen, I'm told that my departing from the script might panic you, and— Let me alone! Do you hear me? Let me alone! Let go of me! Let me alone!" Sometimes I have this dream I'm going for a hike and discover a remote farmhouse on fire Children are calling for help from the upper windows So I call the fire brigade But they don't come Because some mad person keeps telling them that this is a false alarm The situation is getting more and more desperate, but I cannot convince the firemen to get going I cannot wake up from this nightmare