at Maria and Soren's one night me and Katie on the back bed lied she said I guess I'll learn to like Sam instead of Josh alright from Chicago I'd returned an hour away, homesickness earned in the city wanting her to absorb, round the world learn about the replication and how we can be like replicants Sam: if light of winter's tint loses spark of summer's glint Katie will you be the replicent with brittle bones smooth and unbent deep aching rivers inside pent you learned about in class that’s meant to free your comforted fine mind any fear you got unwind of living just to pay the rent Katie will you be the replicant and map could be marked to measure states explored and filling in with push pins or the pen marks making lines that descend towards dreams of foreign countries still without technology that we're headed for while running out of America to see and remaining just a replicant, scared of sleeping in a dirty dent punching out to vent, about where all the years went Katie will you be the replicant that might have flown but never left and never got to see difference between the heart and head and Katie I can't be the replicant I know that you could see it then I was lost and spinning 'rounf searching trying to figure out but I tried more than you could know I saved it all to one day show that it's possible to break free and leave behind your teeange dreams and I'll keep coming back for you I'll be the voice inside of you from the edge I'll pull you back you'll hear this question asked Katie will you be the replicant always in your maker’s debt and never knowing what I meant Katie will you be the replicant

tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub Maria was a receiver tuned to the Midwest I swear Alaina signaled Florida by way of Kenosha air after Internet connection Alaina and Soren drove and visited Maria who opened door smiling and said “I'm coming back with you to live” tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub Maria served at The Chancery where Alaina hosted and bussed straight boys flirted with Maria ‘cause Alaina said,"this stays between us" Maria said,"sure, you're the commander" Alaina replied,"no you wear the crown Maria said,”then we’ll burn down the wardrobe and prepare for the new world at large" we need new duds for the captain captain trying to steer the ship take hold of hips and control them with the lips keep the vessel from dry land we need new duds for the captain captain who just earned the rank from last boat that sank take your money from the money take this body that needs to be manned tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub tiaw t'ndluoc I dias I, I dna desimorp uoy neht tub Maria moved in with Soren his parents kicked him out, he was on his own there was a party every night after work since he'd come out he wasn't alone Maria said,"We gotta live life to fullest" Soren, this is the time to celebrate" but, in the dressing rooms of the outlet malls Alaina couldn't help but hesitate we need new duds for the captain captain trying to steer the ship take hold of hips and control them with the lips keep the vessel from dry land we need new duds for the captain captain who just earned the rank from last boat that sank take your money from the money take this body that needs to be manned when we get to heaven we’ll walk down the streets paved with gold new duds for the captain (new duds for the captain) when we get to heaven I know we won’t have to grow old new duds for the captain (new duds for the captain) when we get to heaven we’ll stand on the top of the sun we need new duds for the captain when we get to heaven away from dark fields we’ll run new duds for tha captain nur ll'ew sdleif kard morf yawa nevaeh ot teg ew nehw nus eht fo pot eht no dnats ll'ew nevaeh ot teg ew nehw

grenadine red dye #40 mixed with Coke shot straight from gun following the trail splattered under Texas sun from a punk posing as line cook always with burned hand what you didn't know yet aw you tried to understand grenadine you call me up from Portland waiting for rush to return south of Seattle where I’ve spent years now trying to learn how to sweeten up shift with just right amount poured in sweetening what might be but never what has been at your and Dave's place, after close, we’d set sail up a sugar nile to look back from way on down the rails I’d had fill first summer at Boathouse, to Santa Fe back I did leave and the morning my train left, I got high with Kimmy on grenadine in Indiana, on your parents back deck, we drank to change after I felt called back home to The Chancery to face Wisconsin highway full of wrecks to come and years to waste but that summer we found courage used since in cherry taste grenadine she showed me how to dance in New York our hands pressed she said you'll probably use this on some waitress you find your friends and lovers working on the job and everyone you know works in a restaurant you moved to Austin and I moved to Chicago I got a tattoo to commemorate parting ways for growing old and you came back all fucked up and I turned my back on you cutting off my past, to be a man and a brother I did lose in grenadine you went to my dad's church craving but he wasn’t there it was just that one Sunday he wasn’t preaching I swear I'd take that train an hour north and cross border to see you stuck, think I couldn't help you anymore I’d see you stuck, think I couldn't help you anymore I'd see you stuck, think I couldn't help you anymore

baby I can’t see you anymore ‘til it’s been a hundred years or maybe more but I can still think of the good times the oinger it’s been, the more they’re on my mind let’s go down the sugar nile, sail it for a little while close our eyes and travel a whole mind forget about worries and cares, where they’re not we will be there we’ll go ridin’ down the sugar nile you gave me the blanket you had as a child with rainbow stripes, pink lines and yellow tiles I took it as promise you’d be faithful but you weren’t and I have that blanket still let’s go down the sugar nile, sail it for a little while close our eyes and travel a whole mind forget about worries and cares, where they’re not we will be there we’ll go ridin’ down the sugar nile one more time before it fades away memories from the magic days you’d be sick and by the locks we’d lay and I’d put my lips to your ear and say let’s go down the sugar nile, sail it for a little while close our eyes and travel a whole mind forget about worries and cares, where they’re not we will be there we’ll go ridin’ down the sugar nile

headache on strong, rightfully to belong to a sugar junkie crashing from recalling wrong who wanted red barn full of the Easter hay and to lose innocence like an old cliche when semester finally ends in middle of May and Alexandra returns home from Santa Fe a girl from California, somewhere in the country I never ran into again in any big city or a dive bar sitting somewhere near a county line jukebox comes on, brings back a dream, just again to die on the stairway landing, she denied my kiss Alexandra’s now the one from then that I miss and I remember Alexandra on the first day most of all me and her and Joe walking to watch Zozobra fall on the campus green we laid under stars and talked there was so much possibility that I could feel out rush a century earlier I'd have sworn it's her I loved declared my hand in marriage for them all to gossip of then gone back to the farm, worked for her mom and dad earned their blessing to someday inherit the land and they'd look at me grateful forever for the day when Alexandra returned home from Santa Fe

well we have skinned our knees we’ve been grounded for weeks cause of our C’s and our F’s and my D’s did you know that school carries on even after the 4th grade? oh no! oh yeah! you are my older brother and you’re my younger sister with brown hair and brown eyes just like mine and no matter how fast I run across the yard, you beat me to the line unless I hear the bells first or unless I hear the bells first or unless I hear the bells first and here it comes, here it comes here it comes, the ice cream truck with drumsticks and otter pops and Klondike bars and firecrackers and can you hear the bells when they’re coming round the block here it comes, the ice cream truck when April came around and the sun finally peaked out and there was work to be found through word-of-mouth and you dressed up to impress, in interview spoke your best and hope they didn’t even notice the rest and you got hired and introduced to others from who you’d choose who would make this place not seem so bad so it wouldn’t be a surprise, unfolding right before your eyes was the summer camp that we never had if it’s the first place that you’ve worked, you won’t know that you’re lucky to be part of a team that's just like one big family when hanging clouds appear, your higher calling’s nowhere near and you leave everyday swearing that you’ll quit before deciding you’ll stay on and only keep the job til you figure out life and what to do with it and you will know they have the power, to get you through the slow hours and if you leave it would be more than you could stand but someday that search has to drop and the dreaming has to stop for the summer camp that we never had

we're living close to fear but contact now is near can't we for now look away it'll be OK for one day balance on border then face the order we always knew we'd have to pay it'll be OK for one day I left bag unpacked until last minute leaving home for first time staring out for whole ride I'd dream of girls like you someone who’d get through to dance with at party to the band while living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland it's all I thought about how to find taste out the wrapper unrolls, we lose control for handful of peppermint sand I knew when I was young life wouldn’t be long enough I let thoughts of death fill me with anger, greed and envy don't make me feel guilty for skipping ceremony letters will come soon that demand why we're still living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland living in the candyland

a room full of dividers and ears pressed against the wall only the whispers are heard of ghost in the graveyard being called what is a kiss anyway late at night made to the AM with all of the daylight removed and pure as an Easter hymn a river that don’t know it’s a river and air that don’t know that it’s air it’s all part of the revelation following an answered prayer I’m afraid of wanting her I’m scared of the slightest pull of the instinct buried deep sensing only a miracle she’s got soul that’s on other side of a bridge raised up high I’ll look straight down and know that her soul is the water below a river that don’t know it’s a river and air that don’t know that it’s air well it’s all part of the revelation following an answered prayer