#piratesandthieves

[jamiemacdowell]

Half Time

There's this place full of bass, it's the home of booze and bar fights, where the wine stained walls are full of music line-ups. & there's this drummer on the stage he's playing poison through his arms, right? & the crowd goes quiet when the beat goes half-time.

There's a girl among the mess she's got a tattoo on her arm, kind of tipsy, more than pretty, all enchanted by the bar lights. She's been here once before, she's in the same state as last time, & her eyes roll back when the beat goes half time.

Now there's a boy too drunk to stand, sitting under the cigar signs, reciting poetry distonely, through an old guitar line. He's got the rhythm going on but the notes he's playing aren't right. & his fingers start to bleed when the beat goes half time.

There's a youngster in the bathroom putting love into his arm, trying to replace the sense of empty with the dancers in his mind. They spin an endless web of romance but love won't save his life. He takes his last shallow breath as the beat goes half time.

Written by Jamie MacDowell

[jamiemacdowell]

Whores and Drunks

 I left my pen and the thing I need inside tonight & right before the lights went out I guessed you felt like resting. &now alone in the dark my phone's so hard to find I'll look with you in mind, the last thing I would ask is that you'd stir. Well as long as I can here the beat of your breath remain real steady I know that it's safe to tread cause you've drifted off to sleep. & now I'm dressed and I know that it's bad to leave like this but I know it's not as heartless as what you did, so I'll wear a grin as I tuck you in.

We've got lonely minds so full of untidiness. & unreliable at best abreast a chest we may invest & yet we're still defined by a kind of untimeliness that fills our eyes.

So could it be that pain has changed my head since then & still controls the love I spend. Does it build the wall and take the peace out of my name? & has it left me less accessible to the good? In all likelihood, I'm less approachable, much less evoc-able than I'd claim. Look at the mangy criminals we became. So share a drink with me to the cowardly, to dishonour, to the modern pirates, thieves, the whores and drunks not yet laid in graves.

They've got lonely minds so full of untidiness. & unreliable at best abreast a chest we may invest & yet we're still defined by a kind of untimeliness that fills our eyes.

Written by Jamie MacDowell 

[jamiemacdowell]

Take My Grace

From Amsterdam to Berlin, & the floodways in between I just me Nicky P in Michigan, the best show I've ever seen. & I've been counting train trips and collecting hotel keys as if they keep some kind of currency.

Keep your lonely away, I'll be here in your wake, take my name, take my grace, take the world away. There ain't no reason to stay, here we're just waiters to them wages, so while there's love to be made, take my name, take my grace.

From Amsterdam to Berlin and the binges in between got lost out where there ain't no company other than Joshua trees. & I've been counting train trips and collecting hotel keys as if they keep some kind of currency. We've a gift, we've a torch, this more than reasonable fortune we were born in isn't normal we're unafforded at this rate. & in the end all we've been given- collections made to prove we lived won't replace the things we've missed so keep your greed away. Now avarice is all we learn with all these trinkets that we serve. How much would your name be worth if you lost it all? It don't take the rich to understand that all this loot can send you mad It's best to save what you'll still have once you've lost it all.

Keep my name, keep my grace & keep the company we made. Make the most of trains you take while you're still free. With open eyes go find another to keep you warm and undercover. Just as long as we have love, we'll be filthy.

From Amsterdam to Berlin and the runways in between Just made a mess in old Los Angeles, most atrocious I've ever been. & I've been counting train trips and collecting hotel keys as if they keep some kind of currency.  

Written by Jamie MacDowell

[jamiemacdowell]

The Bright Side

She's the easy on the eyes, the dulcet tone. You may know a brighter smile but I don't. She's the flavour that I seem to try the most but never quite commit to buying. She's the pride of the host and his next toast, and when the sea is in the sky, she's your raincoat. She's the apple in your pie, the smoke in your toke. She's the reason I'm alive.

She's the bright side to the darkest lines and she's a streetlight in the night. She's the glow in the twilight. The brightness in this tempo. I walk the fine line between the wide eyed and the blinded, she might bust my sight, but I won't mind, cause in the dark she's mine.

She's the love that disappeared when I came home. You may know a deeper pain but I don't. She's the I in team, she's the make believe that leaves me in a heap cause she's the backbone. She's the absentee, might be the remedy but realistically now just a photo. She's the lockless key, she's the lost at sea, she leaves me lost in time cause she's a metronome.

She's the bright side to the darkest lines and she's a streetlight in the night. She's the glow in the twilight. The brightness in this tempo. I walk the fine line between the wide eyes and the blinded, she might bust my sight, but I won't mind, cause in the dark she's mine.

She's the distance that I keep from Greville St. She's the space between the beats. She's the fresh in the air that we all breathe. She's the only thing I needed.

I've been on the up and up and I'm never coming down, I'm giving up on the ground. Well I'm Jane-bound. She's the dollar that I found, she's Hermitude up loud, she's the road out of town.

Written by Jamie MacDowell 

[jamiemacdowell]

Spears

There's a road I'd like to drive,  it goes in circles and it winds. It eventually arrives right back here. It's a pointless exercise, cause there's no finish line, & I don't plan to do much thinking out there either.

But I get as churned up in my bed as I would in a boat deep out at sea. There's too much trouble beneath these covers for me. & all of your spears just got sharpened by the ginger in his beard, they all fly much higher and stick in much deeper now he's here.

There's this mountain I might climb, it takes a week cause of it's size, & you need an air tank to survive up at the top. It's just a dangerous waste of my time, cause I'm afraid of heights & even down here asthma ties my lungs into knots.

But I get as breathless in my bed as I would up on that mountain ledge above a valley that would gladly grant me death. & all of your spears just got sharpened by the ginger in his beard, they all fly much higher and stick in much deeper now he's here. I lost a lot along with you. the best part of my voice & half of my fingers too. & you saved your love for someone new but mine got loose. I've been in hiding but not yet unwinding the ropes that are binding me to you though you put in writing that you'd like me to. Was I out of my mind when we were colliding? Did I give up trying or was it you? Was it just bad timing? Or was one of us lied to?

& all of your spears just got sharpened by the ginger in his beard, they all fly much higher and stick in much deeper now he's here.

Written by Jamie MacDowell

[jamiemacdowell]

Thanks

I've got no need for anyone but you. I could get used to losing nutrients and them kilograms, abandon all the food groups. Man, the truth is I would stand upright all night long if you asked me too. Cuz that would mean more room for you.

There ain't a coat that could protect me from the coldness like you do. Can't find comfort within cardigan, that i can't find in you. I've got no use for, what some would call the usual pursuits, cause i got used to the unusual in you.

I don't need light, I barely need my eyes, cause you turn up on the other side behind them. Just like light, you follow through. And I can make excuses for the places that I said I'd be tonight, if you don't mind, I'd rather follow you.

As far as food goes, I'll survive without it, so far I've been fine. Since meeting you, I've lost my appetite, and ain't got plans to find it. Just like fighters meet the bruises, and chemicals will find their users, just like lightning meets the gloom, well I met you.  

And since then I've been experiencing a longing that comes close to being lonely, and goes in hand with hopeful, it's oh so quotable. It seems, the more i let myself believe, the less the rest of this will mean.

Now there's just two good ways to stun a man, the gun, and then there's you. But there's a hundred ways to love you and one hundred ways I'll use. I'll even keep the best of all of them for last, so i can prove that after all, there's even more to look forward to.

I don't need light, I barely need my eyes, cuz you turn up on the other side behind them. Just like light, you follow through. And I can make excuses for the places that I said I'd be tonight, if you don't mind, I'd rather follow you.

Written by Jamie MacDowell