Glittering
How did we ever get in this party?
They must have thought we were the help
The mid-June moon
Over the World Trade Tomb
I don’t want to leave this rooftop
With anyone else
The host is a rich old bachelor
Loves what I paint
Your platinum hair
Is like permission to stare
You say, considering the three thousand churches
In this town there are precious few saints
Chorus:
And it is summer next week
If I could have remembered to speak
I would invite you to Coney Island
Not easy surviving
In a city where indifference
Is often the closest thing to kindness
I’m just wondering
If you are also pretending
Not sure I deserve a happy ending
Glittering, glittering
We were glittering
They warned me it all ends
Embittering
Yet I swore it wouldn’t happen to us
Flickering lighting
Down the complex stairwell
And you made a joke
About us being murdered
Then your brother got ashes
Caught in his sunglasses
At that point your attitude became
Quite a bit sterner
You accused me of contentment
Cause I had something going
While the absurdity of our lives
Had been revealed bare
According to my recollection
We parted at an intersection
The host advised you
Are not exactly rare
Chorus
Twenty years later
It’s happy hour
At the bar where I tend for
Rent
You have the same circuitous grin
Here at Tailspin
And the corners of your five spot
Are bent
The art world hyped me
Then forgot completely
The end of my career couldn’t have been
More discreet
Never saw you on television
But wouldn’t make an assumption
You stare a second longer
Before ordering another Whiskey neat
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Glittering
How did we ever get in this party?
They must have thought we were the help
The mid-June moon
Over the World Trade Tomb
I don’t want to leave this rooftop
With anyone else
The host is a rich old bachelor
Loves what I paint
Your platinum hair
Is like permission to stare
You say, considering the three thousand churches
In this town there are precious few saints
Chorus:
And it is summer next week
If I could have remembered to speak
I would invite you to Coney Island
Not easy surviving
In a city where indifference
Is often the closest thing to kindness
I’m just wondering
If you are also pretending
Not sure I deserve a happy ending
Glittering, glittering
We were glittering
They warned me it all ends
Embittering
Yet I swore it wouldn’t happen to us
Flickering lighting
Down the complex stairwell
And you made a joke
About us being murdered
Then your brother got ashes
Caught in his sunglasses
At that point your attitude became
Quite a bit sterner
You accused me of contentment
Cause I had something going
While the absurdity of our lives
Had been revealed bare
According to my recollection
We parted at an intersection
The host advised you
Are not exactly rare
Chorus
Twenty years later
It’s happy hour
At the bar where I tend for
Rent
You have the same circuitous grin
Here at Tailspin
And the corners of your five spot
Are bent
The art world hyped me
Then forgot completely
The end of my career couldn’t have been
More discreet
Never saw you on television
But wouldn’t make an assumption
You stare a second longer
Before ordering another Whiskey neat
Fall is Falling
It seemed like a good idea
She was 23 with a book deal
Aren’t some fantasies allowed to be real?
The exceptional ideal
Chorus:
Though I really hoped it
We are not the same
Fall is falling
You’re not calling my name
My friends said i miscalculated
I thought they were sexually frustrated
We all might have necks and backs aggravated
But that shouldn’t mean a life of hesitation
Chorus
My ex-wife called her a gold-digger
And was appalled she was younger than their babysitter
Asked, ‘when she’s sitting on your lap, what nonsense does she whisper?’
I told my therapist, ‘see, this is why I don’t miss her.’
Chorus
It was all so wonderful in the beginning
Your lips reminded me I hadn’t been living
When they stared at restaurants, you’d just be grinning
I’d think to myself, ‘these jealous pricks hate that I’m winning.’
Chorus
But the slightest thing can cause severe tension
You felt betrayed when I wouldn’t make an investment
In your mental patient friend’s latest invention
Something about recycling plant stems for hair extensions
Chorus
And of course it all fell apart
You wrote a shitty second novel about your lack of a heart
Those fickle critics tore it apart
While I had a cardiac episode in a Wal-Mart
Chorus
Well, I don’t have one regret
I’m 85 now and my grandkids are in debt
But for a life in letters, what could I expect?
We may have parted, but at least we met
Chorus
Show Do Tell: A Reading Series & Art Review
Glittering
How did we ever get in this party?
They must have thought we were the help
The mid-June moon
Over the World Trade Tomb
I don’t want to leave this rooftop
With anyone else
The host is a rich old bachelor
Loves what I paint
Your platinum hair
Is like permission to stare
You say, considering the three thousand churches
In this town there are precious few saints
Chorus:
And it is summer next week
If I could have remembered to speak
I would invite you to Coney Island
Not easy surviving
In a city where indifference
Is often the closest thing to kindness
I’m just wondering
If you are also pretending
Not sure I deserve a happy ending
Glittering, glittering
We were glittering
They warned me it all ends
Embittering
Yet I swore it wouldn’t happen to us
Flickering lighting
Down the complex stairwell
And you made a joke
About us being murdered
Then your brother got ashes
Caught in his sunglasses
At that point your attitude became
Quite a bit sterner
You accused me of contentment
Cause I had something going
While the absurdity of our lives
Had been revealed bare
According to my recollection
We parted at an intersection
The host advised you
Are not exactly rare
Chorus
Twenty years later
It’s happy hour
At the bar where I tend for
Rent
You have the same circuitous grin
Here at Tailspin
And the corners of your five spot
Are bent
The art world hyped me
Then forgot completely
The end of my career couldn’t have been
More discreet
Never saw you on television
But wouldn’t make an assumption
You stare a second longer
Before ordering another Whiskey neat