I swore I had a friend Who swore it’d never end At the secret spot Behind the Amoco lot But by November 3rd I learned a brand new word For “nothing stays the same” I rhymed it with her middle name And by November 6 I was back to my old tricks ‘Cause that’s my birthday I swore a friend And school is back in session At least I dreamed that it seemed like it was And this was my last question If the sacred stasis was the basis For the places we thought we should be But I swore I had a friend Where Opdyke used to end And the fast food signs just blend Into the secret word That only once occurred On the long drive home Past the Silverdome Where anyone could see The broken light in me Where the daylight used to bend I swore I had a friend And school is back in session At least I dreamed that it seemed like it was And this was my last question If the sacred stasis was the basis For the places we thought we should be But I swore I had a friend

Summer’s sticky sickness And one Jehovah’s Witness Knocking at my sticky summer door Just swishing beer And wishing I weren’t still living here With nowhere else I think I might like more Guy in the alley Screaming a finale About some money that somebody owes Well, I’ve been going a long time owing A debt to someone I don’t even know There wasn’t much to say the day I met you Wasn’t much to do all summer long But I could tell From the moment it fell Everywhere but beside you felt wrong So hold a second And tell me what you’ve reckoned About the night that we spent on the floor It’s gotten pretty quiet on the lonely-hearted diet As I scavenge through the drive-thus evermore Having slammed the cupboard I hit the northern suburb Where the cashiers at Home Depot know my name I duplicate the house key That you forgot to leave me And every cashier last year felt the same There wasn’t much to say the day I met you Wasn’t much to do all summer long But I could tell From the moment it fell Everywhere but beside you felt wrong And after all the birthdays this fall Everywhere but beside you will feel wrong

The gift certificate that you gave me expired today I was too tired to make it to the Meijer in White Lake anyway It’s raining like Halloween Like every Halloween since I turned 17 Do you know what I mean? Magdalene Yeah, I’m well aware that’s not your name People love to share the details But rarely share the blame I’m sorry for what I became and what you’ve seen Campari twice-spilt on the same computer screen Now I’m nothing but a waste of your caffeine I waste it all Magdalene Did you not hear The desperate call? The fog on the mirror The scream in the hall ‘Cause everyone knew And everyone saw I thought it was you I was glad I was wrong The autumn girls keep asking why I’m overdressed They offered me some medicine and I guess I acquiesced But lately, this played-out scene Feels vaguely like a broken Coke machine And I’m stuck in-between That place and Magdalene

Syrup and saccharin Don’t really factor in When I’m with Catherine On the Northline Where 15 years after the high school braces lift On the Northline The tectonic molars and incisors start to shift On the Northline The municipal golf course is strewn in October leaves On the Northline The scratch-offs and night coughs are stolen by the nursing home thieves On the Northline The McDonald’s sign ain’t the only pending deal On the Northline On the Northline You peel at the way you feel today Till a 10-year-older version of you Kneels in the dark ditch And shows you what is real Rotting inheritance Plotting some errands with Whatever your parents left On the Northline You had the physique of a youth travel soccer coach On the Northline Your hatchback was matte black and sleek in its nightly approach On the Northline There's a sense that the denseness of night is colliding with age On the Northline There's a sector of town that dissolves in a black hole of beige On the Northline There's this friend of mine Who's just dying to make a deal On the Northline On the Northline You peel at the way you feel today Till a 10-year-older version of you Kneels in the dark ditch And shows you what is real

I can hear your nearing Mercury Sable Growl beneath the tunnel as you make your way over It rattles like a busted guitar cable And promises ex-boyfriends made that got left over Now it’s you and me and tea at the breakfast table Nursing our amazement and a small hangover Whatever came before Your eyes in the morning Has blurred into a boring little episode of nothing When you ran into my landing Jumped into my arms No one told me love would hold me Ever again, despite a life of constant false alarms And all the neighbors saw me laughing so hysterically All that I could do to keep from crying And I’m sorry I can’t make sense Of something so completely Intense We walk toward the water Where the freighters scrape the land We pass the ancient motels Where the folks pay by the hour-hand Lots of strange concoctions popping up this spring The garbage and the dandelions blossom like an offering For you and me and the bad joke I just told We laugh at all our dumb luck And the house we say we’ll buy before we get too old Where maybe our kids’ll pull pranks For now we walk through Hubbard Farms And kick discarded nitrous oxide whip-it tanks That the joyride people suck down To make the woken nightmare Not feel like such a letdown And they could hear your nearing Mercury Sable Growl beneath the tunnel as you make your way over When you ran into my landing Jumped into my arms No one told me love would hold me Ever again, despite a life of constant false alarms And all the neighbors saw me laughing so hysterically All that I could do to keep from crying And I’m sorry I can’t make sense Of something so completely Intense

I’d rather wear another layer I’d rather sit in my big coat In my cold living room And cultivate a sore throat Than be the only person who Is breathing in the furnace air I think it’s safe to assume I’d be the only person there ‘Cause company is not near And nothing’s gonna bring it back Not another cold beer Not another night black The blackness all around Your young Milky Way Swirling in the white sound But wasn’t it just yesterday? Your warm breath in my ear When you’re the only person who When everyone could disappear I'd only wanna think of you Clarkston pasture Driving faster Out past the last bachelor pad My uncle had You called me the master Of petty sad-bastardism But that day all in all was not so bad That day all in all was not so bad I’m wondering what you see I’m wondering what you know I wonder if you peep me In the Christmas tree glow The family is dwindling And all your old furniture Gather it as kindling And try to raise the temperature In your hometown starlight Freezing in a parking lot Cheering on a bar fight But you know where it’s always hot Clarkston pasture Driving faster Out past the last bachelor pad My uncle had You called me the master Of petty sad-bastardism But that day all in all was not so bad That day all in all was not so bad

Anyway Anyhow If there weren't any yesterday There's many now Problems And debt collectors in the grass They slither to the motor of their Rattle-shaking ass Anytime Anywhere If there's any chance The broken glance Was truer than the stare The faceless fucks In pickup trucks outside your door Or stuck between the Halloween Costumes in the store I'll find you standing there If I'm ever in the money Abruptly reappear on you that day The memory's as clear As the snow thaws when it's sunny Or tears that tell me more than you could say Anyone Anybody If there's anything that I could sing That won't turn soft and bloody Well, I heard you say that every day Some power fades But there's someplace where every trace still Wickedly cascades And I'll find you standing there If I'm ever in the money Sunlight on your hair and in your eyes Achingly aware Of all that's turned so runny We'll chase it through the morning till it dries If there's any way If there's any how If there's any way Now

Oh, the middle-age clock clicks In fun size Snickers and antibiotics Sister Margaret says you got my note Did you remember to vote This November? Because your sore throat Is the leading contender For my favorite cage The page I wish I wrote And Catholic seniors from the all-male high school In BMWs, bright blue, carpool past you To the imperial light Did you remember to write Me an answer About the night that the world turned faster Than we ever knew Ever knew it might? And you always say we got a lot A lot of nice life before us But it’s feeling like there’s not Any way To make my way back in And claim the spot Looking out over the kingdom From the Bloomfield Marriott Looking down On the ground I thought I knew Spend your birthday in nervousness At the Michigan Department of Human Services Sister Margaret got your paperwork It’s the perennial perk And it's always slipping By the time I woke up, all the icicles dripping In some friendless year As some endless fear emerged Aw, but you always say we got a lot A lot of nice life before us But it’s feeling like there’s not Any way To make my way back in And claim the spot Looking out over the kingdom From the Bloomfield Marriott Looking down On the ground I thought I knew I’m the wedding DJ In the budget banquet hall And you’re my only friend It’ll be ok When Sister Margaret rights it all Or it might be the end

Dangerously sizing Everything too soon Scorpio rising Libra moon Where her cosmic curtains bleed The sunlight in the morning The only star sign I need Nothing will ever scare me Like the chance of something good When it seems like it’ll happen There’s no reason that it should But her karaoke tune Is the sound inside my worry It’s the lump inside my throat this afternoon Forty days till I can settle down And see you in the morning Together in that same town Where I used to wait for something that was good And I’m scared to know that you’re the one that could

The machines of summer loudly hiss the whereabouts That all I care about has burnt away So show me where to stare my eyes to figure out Inside the burning furnace of the day Did the heavy afternoon fall on your eyelid? Did someone try to sell you a lie? Did it seem as though he loved you more than I did? When summer falls to pieces And all that’s clear to me is That it’s ok if you can’t tell me why

I'm not the boy that hurt you But I might as well be Eject you or insert you The motion isn't healthy I saw you on the weekend Is there something you wanna tell me? We'll get away for summer Hang out on the Northline I memorized your number And the curvature of your spine Bending in the water Sending me a message stealthy I'm not the boy who loved you Who can say if I will? I'm not the boy above you Standing on the dusk hill Vanishing in summer Brandishing another beer I'm not the boy beneath you Squirming in your last ditch I'm not the boy to teach you Or sell you on a fast pitch I'm just the boy that knows The moment as it grows so near What's the light? You said it's Jupiter We just might Be getting stupider When the stickiest answer Is a Jolly Rancher That's passed between mouths in the night The lustful impending Electrical ending That's calmly intending to destroy And I know that I'm not the boy I'm not the boy to taste you There's times I wish that I could I'm not the boy to waste you On something less than I should I'm just the boy that knows The moment as it grows so near