By the Window Rain was my call to the window At night A grey inside Had a place to play In another Dark Where there was no need for hiding And to smile for the smile I was given Perhaps Trace a name in thick breath Fingertips Across the pane For the candle I burned that day Rebellious head But content in the music I slept against the wall Back then Against the sandpaper texture Of nicotine amber On an old black lounge Warm Knees to the paint And thunder rolling A rumble through the thighs My belly A palm exit in waves Back into the air No one asked me to pull the window shut To keep the cushions dry I smoked half burned Marlboro Reds My mother left Forgotten Lipstick kisses Love from an ashtray Scribbles of black across bleeding blue lines Against a frame beaded in condensation Release Of the inside Buzzing But Manageable Enough for words I listened to those Crows More than I should have But I learned Sweet revelations in muted pounding Pellets on tin roof That lyrics were my muse So I sang mine to the fly screen And waited for the night To spit back into my face Lick me Drown me Or shut me up Gravel rising to the pouring Stirring The filth we've beaten in with our soles An escape for the dirt We've compacted But the human cannot stop this sky from weeping it free As it deserves Webs of blue and gold Crack Through the black To catch the shadows Who meant to stay the night I was safe The voices fade in the storms Into their own spaces Where they too Could rest Without a pinching masquerade Of faces Outside Lost and sinking In the silence Of the falling Rain