All My Bridges

you always i keep

there is only one

right answer to the question 

do you love me?

always. feel free 

to play infinitely 

these words on 

repeat they are some 

of the few i ever got 

right along the way to you

r heart dear unlikeliest of 

no longer strangers

you are invited to 

be charmed by each of the

times i keep falling for you still 

steady your eye on the count 

down from the seconds 

i first laid ears on your stories

any minute 

now i will ruin 

everything i still love
you always were my 

only favorite reason to keep 

trying to get things right 

to keep coming back 

home is where 

my heart is with 

you always i keep

hoping i were not wrong 

to think that 
there is only one 
right answer to the question 

do you love me? 

were i a hummingbird

were i a hummingbird 

i’d hover,

over earth until 

guilty verdicts 

reverberated 

from the laws of gravity.  

were i a hummingbird 

i’d make home 

of her garden, 

and of her olive skin 

which steeps in the green and gold 

of the afternoon 

and iridescence 

percolating through the branches. 

were i a hummingbird 

i’d live swiftly, 

so swiftly she did hear my colors 

writing songs through her lantana. 

were i a hummingbird 

i'd flicker,

into spring and through every direction of her wildest dreams,

like the interweaving lines on her palms

and out from each one of her fingertips. 

were i a hummingbird 

i’d return, 

today, and every today after.

were i a hummingbird 

i'd hope she were hearing,

i'd hope she were seeing

i’d hope she were smiling,

i'd hope that she were nearing

i'd hope she were

were i a hummingbird,

(and she would be).

one way ticket

all my roads 

feel like a one way 

ticket to a cliffs edge. 

in all of my dreams i 

jump before look

ing to the bottom of the canyon 

and a miniature trampoline

hoping to bounce my way 

to the other 

end of these train tracks 

i still wait 

for your ear to press a

gainst. i still keep 

mine held tightly to the steel. i 

will always be 

at your other end i am 

always at your finish line. 

come barrel

ing around my corners 

please come train 

wreck me you know 

i spent every last pen

ny on our one way 

ticket to catastrophe   

but goddam you 

have never made me happi

er to have been so foolish. 

your hair is long

your hair is long 

again like it was 

yesterday has it been 

so long since i re

member what the soft

ness of your 

hands feel like have they 

calloused to my touch? 

in your silence i have count

ed all the ways to say i love 

you and soon 

i reach the walls 

of every i still do

standing be

tween us and you.

do you still 

keep the an

swers to all 

my favorite questions? 

no one can find 

them any 
where only silence i keep count

ing all the ways to say i love

you your hair is long 

again like it was yesterday 

arguably they're our pages

we hold hands 

when we ar

gue. i want to 

pull my hair out 

and (though I have

n't quite learned how to)

kiss you simultaneously. 

we are endless

ly on different pages,

but argu

ably they

're our pages. 

some say 

we could

n't be more opposite, 

some say opposite

s attract, 

i say let 

me love you 

(once 

and for al

ways). i say let

's prove 

just how beautiful

it is 

to have so lit

tle in common. 

to count to i love you

how many mornings

how many nights

how many suns 

how many moons  

to count to love you 

one two three we 

all i do is smile 

four five six i’m 

still holding my breath 

seven eight nine take 

every piece of time 

to make it to all ten 

reasons our fingers 

keep finding their way back to one -

anothers 

how little 

how much 

how long 

how soon 

does it roll on like the waves 

is it defined like the shore 

is it higher than the sky 

does it outnumber the stars 

how close   

how beyond  

how gentle  

how strong 

can you find it in her eyes

does it fit within both hands

is it further than always  

is it nearer than now 

how many letters  

how many words

how many shouted

how many whispered 

to count to i love you

The only one I want to know

Anchor

wild to remain

when i enter your garden

i pass through no gate

simply onward the trail 

to your highest peak 

i have never known a way like yours 

and you have never known a wandering like mine 

still i welcome your curves 

and you invite my pace 

we are lovers to the unmapped path

our forward takes 

you are the brightest sun 

you are the clearest sky

you are the piercing heat i feel inside 

you are the stone and dirt beneath my feet 

you are the pattern of the butterfly

you are as many colors as the wildflowers 

you are the ones i had yet to see

you are the fragrance of lupine 

you are the shapes and lines in the leaves

you are the strong wind that blows through the branches of the palm trees

you are the sharpness of the needle grass

you are the cactus thorn 

you are the blood that pours 

you are the smile that forms 

you are the knowing that wounds heal 

you are the cry the coyote sings 

your are the hummingbird's wings

you are the lizard that hurries on 

you are the highest note of the sparrows song

you are the coolest breeze 

you are the view from the mountain 

you are the slow decent

you are the softly content

you are homeward 

when i depart from your garden

i steal not a single flower

still your sun

has burnt all of me that i made bare

still your thorn 

stings to the touch

still your song 

is known to my tongue 

still your scars 

are now mine to call home 

so you 

untethered for the on and on 

untamed for always

you are free to grow 

and wild to remain

to be

music on music 

books on books

plenty to keep 

my mind distracted 

from 

all the songs i should be hearing 

all the words i should be reading 

plays on plays 

wants on wants 

more than enough 

to keep my hands 

and thoughts  

too busy 

to simply do 

the things 

i say 

i simply want to do

now 

the time has come 

to end the consumerism  

to cease the hustle 

for something new

so 

find me a quiet corner 

pull up a chair

keep me afternoon 

come sit with me 

stay a while

share

all the stories that

i have been waiting to hear 

i have everything i want 

and all i could need 

now 

the time has come  

to be still 

the time has come 

to be 

dear chicago

dear chicago 

swallow me 

from frank lloyd wright

to lake michigan 

i only want your 

absolutely everything, and 

all your in betweens

with your outstretched arms 

like my skyscrapers, i am

reaching for the fringes of your grey skies

my collar

turned up to your wind 

my feet 

dancing to the beat of the rain against the windows of our eyes,

my eyes

still looking for your every so faintly sunshine

dear chicago

swallow me 

from then

til tonight

and all your in betweens

i only want your 

absolutely everything 

Til I Get to You

'All the way to the Jersey Shore' - Live at The Lost Knight: Echo Park, CA

My Grandfather's Guitar

my grandfather's guitar

i didn’t get your frame 

i didn’t get your height

i might've got your courage 

but i didn’t get your fight 

one things for sure 

one things to stay 

i got my grandfather’s voice

when i play 

my grandfather’s guitar

four fingers on your right hand 

you lost your thumb on the farm 

south of calgary alberta 

canada at heart 

the blood in you 

is the blood in me 

i got my grandfather’s heart 

when i play 

my grandfather’s guitar 

“throw nothing away 

always clean your plate

fishing and a hard days work 

we wake up early and we come home late” 

the years roll on 

still these remain 

i hear my grandfather’s voice 

when i play 

my grandfather’s guitar

driving all four windows down 

hypoluxo to old dixie

your 76 lincoln continental 

and the lantana florida breeze 

turning up the radio 

we’d all hum along 

i hear my grandfather sing 

when i play 

my grandfather’s guitar

i was just a boy 

when heaven called you home 

too young to understand 

too young to know 

but i hope you can see me now 

standing tall to say 

i got my grandfather’s voice 

when i play 

my grandfather’s guitar

infinite

infinite,

sounds too few a number 

for the times over 

and the skies under 

which I have thought her most beautiful. 

i try to count them with each breath from my cigarette,

each exhale into the chilly los angeles night, 

the smoke from my lungs.

the warmth of my breath, 

like the waning of her voice

and her still fullness in my memory,

floating on and up through the branches

another drag 

another smoke

another exhale

another hope 

that still tonight, 

the countless clouds 

floating above los angeles, 

hang as reminders of just how beautiful she is, 

and remind her that i

am still counting. 

the light of today, is all yours

i don't blame you 

for taking all the wind out of my sails.

we both know i would've found a way toward you 

had you given me even the faintest of breezes.

my ship was never the steadiest of vessels,

and yet somehow we always found our way to your shores.

now i'm searching all its bends and curves 

for a way to make them still feel like my own. 

so i climbed as high as i could

and lit thirty candles 

with the sun for a flame

on the the wicks of the Los Angeles skyline.

i wished on every last one

for you to find the strength to embrace all the happiness in the world you have always deserved. 

happy birthday to wherever you are. 

i wrapped up the sun,

tied it with a string,

and sent it once around the earth like a balloon, 

hoping it will find you in the morning. 

the light of today, is all yours.

high and low

los angeles is a carnival ride, 

photographed like a day in the park. 

a constant progression of highs and lows, 

fasts and slows, 

with a selfie in between, 

looking like the time of our lives. 

los angeles is the time of our lives 

and always promises the best seat to see the stars, 

only with a sparkle in their eye,

on every street corner and, 

from across the bar. 

i’ll have another drink please,

and one more chance

to make a good impression,

on every constellation

they swore was at the bottom of the glass. 

los angeles is the bottom of the glass, 

one you don’t always bounce back from right away, 

but mean to stick around for a little while. 

a bottom that’ll make you believe you’re standing on a ledge 

and you’ll need to be reminded that we have no where to jump to. 

los angeles can leave you looking like you already did. 

but i’m sorry to any of you who dressed up for a funeral, those church bells were ringing to announce my marriage to my optimism. but please, i hope you're still coming to the reception, i can’t promise i won’t miss some steps, but the dancing has already started in all our favorite memories, and i can promise you, that our glass will always be half-full.

First Listen: Maria Taylor, 'In The Next Life'