INCANTATIONS

	ALL YOU WANT A clock with no face has no hands No hands to guide it To guide it through the night A clock with no face has no sense No sense of direction No sense of direction Nonsense! Nonsense! Are you a broken child? Do you have direction? Do you? Hmm? Do you have a hand To guide you through the night? Do you? Do you? Do you ride the carousel? Would you like to see the show? Would you like to get away from bittersweet Bittersweet Smashing out the stained glass we could be all you want Smashing out the spyglass we could be all you want all you want Are you a broken clock? Do you want a full revival? Do you want some kind of guarantee of your survival? Do you want a cigarette? We can take all that we see So much more than bottled beer and dirty magazines Are you a broken child? Do you have direction? Do you have a hand A hand to guide you through To guide you through the night Would you like to be taken in, my friend? Right this way to the egress, regret and loss of innocence Smashing out the stained glass we could be all you want Smashing out the spyglass (don’t look too closely) we could be all you want all you want ©2007 Malcom Schreeck		ANTS UNDER GLASS Green light flash The world turns red I cannot scream Goliath eyes are turning The nightmares emerge The night is cold I cannot sleep or dare dream A blinding glare The massacre of mankind Another flash They sweep at night for survivors A vivid sense of aimless calamity I am wet to the skin under the rainfall I cannot scream A heat wave burst They have to catch me first Death is coming Do I wander alone in this city of smoke Death is coming I can hear them killing machines miles away and so close behind me I drift through the chaos A bruised and weary man I see the hell that is here I see a reason to fear I see the town where I lived and it is all on fire Death is coming Death is coming Death is coming Death is near Death is near Giants in armor one hundred feet high no words could ever fully describe These are the days of hideous panic spreading like a gout of ink or blood We are splashing across the butcher paper The white- hot splendor of alien terror Like a scene from old’ Pompeii Cities and families incinerated I’m stealing a horse if I can find one alive I expect nothing but thundering death There is still hope there has to be hope With a whip and a revolver and I must keep my head Death is coming (death is near death is near) Death is coming (there has to be hope) ©2007 Malcom Schreeck
	BLACK IRON ROAD There is a big black bridge and it spans over hundreds of blocks So those below catch the trash that is thrown There’s a plague don’t you know going ‘round, a horrible pox Sick are the shades walking pale and afraid They sob, “Why, oh when will it stop?” The bridge it is called Black Iron Road The red wind it blows There is a pitch-black bridge a creaking leviathan over us Some come below with a bullet in their bones There’s a well in our town where we throw the cold ones down an abyss Sad are the days waking pale and afraid Crying, “Why, oh god! Make it stop!” The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road The red wind it blows The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road The red wind it blows Thunder is a train The sky is predatory The light of the day never comes down this way The sun will never burn away the murders of the night Clamor and fight all you like The scarlet riders still come down on the breeze Whatever those smoke and grease machines are hauling Is falling into us We need another fix real soon The bridge it is called the Black Iron Road The red wind it blows There are ghosts, travelers say Stay away from the place down below ©2007 Malcom Schreeck		CHASER Stranger pick your poison no we do not carry wine We are glad to know you we already know your kind Stranger why the hurry here is something to imbibe A dark and dirty drink called Waiting To Die It is a lovely eve for a high-strung soul Through the decay into the watering hole Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call We raise our cracking glasses to another day in hell This oasis is the very place the angels fell What are you afraid of Stranger? Come on down the bitter brine Another drink another song and then its closing time It is a lurvy eve for a vodka soul Through the wreckage into the watering hole Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call Stranger wet your whistle with us dregs and ne’er too wells We are glad for your company I know it’s hard to tell Stranger where’s the fire? This round is on the house A shot of Nice to Know You From the below the bar it pours and pours It’s a lurvy eve for drunken show Through the dismay into the watering hole Change our blood to alcohol and wait for the last call Wait for the last call ©2007 Malcom Schreeck
	DIRTY OLD SILVER Molly She has a switch and a blade She got it made in the shadow of doorways She gets under your skin She’s a daughter A daughter of sin This terrible frame oh the sound of dirty old silver With a gun in her gowns, she stares you down Cold, this terrible turn, turn, turn Olivier He got one thing on his mind these days A dream of monies what come and stay Family, oh how he misses them He’s a seventh son A victim of circumstance He won’t last in this terrible place Whoa, no! This terrible frame oh the sound of dirty old silver With a gun in her gowns, she stares you down Cold, this terrible place Ha-ha-ha Now old Master James He got one foot in the grave these days A slave to danger love and laudanum Mistress Molly, oh how she kisses him She plays mother She milks him to the last No discipline too strict in this terrible thorn This terrible frame oh the pound of dirty old strange With a gun in her gowns she stares you down Cold, this terrible turn, this terrible frame, this terrible place, this terrible thorn, this terrible lie, these terrible streets, this terrible night, this terrible life, this TERRIBLE…! ©2007 Malcom Schreeck		EVER AFTER It started ugly Savagery and broken sky It was the time of maybe never After all Lonely and miserable Tragedy to see you You were so beautiful Like broken dolls can be After all the venom taken We were told was Sauvignon This is what our progress got us After all it’s all in fun After heaven has gone dark After all our time has gone This is how the music ended After all has come undone Lovely when stars were falling Glimmering like tears Only a breath from the finish After all I wonder how I still am standing Was there a ghost within this shell Or is this the place of ever after After all After all the worlds colliding After all the drama fades Dust to dust, ashes to ashes After all it’s all for show After heaven has gone dark After all our time has gone This is how the play has ended After all has come undone After all the venom taken We were told was Sauvignon This is what our progress got us After all it’s all in fun After heaven has gone dark After all our time is gone This is how the music ended After all has come undone After last chances are let go After we are next in line This is how the curtain closes After all that’s all for now ©2007 Malcom Schreeck
	FROZEN MOOD Below and making the most of my time inside with my fever dream I’m all alone in my frozen mood taking in the half-light pulse Adrift and holding the past in my mind diving down below it all Like the shark I cannot stop or I may never swim again Trying to keep going Trying to keep from running down Trying to keep my Grand Work moving Trying to stay my course Trying to keep my demons down Trying to keep my Grand Work running Then she proceeds to interrupt my stream Rage exudes the indelicate signal Afar and taking account of mankind outside with their war machines All alone in my frozen mood I take to bed my fear and loathing Awake and willing the stone-faced captain I have no name I have no home no Turn to surface once again and take the world back down with me I am trying to stop steering Trying to keep the pressure down Trying to keep my Grand Work moving Trying to stay my hunger Trying to keep my demons down Trying to keep my Grand Work running Then she proceeds to interrupt my stream Wrath ensues with indelicate signals ©2007 Malcom Schreeck		GOODBYE 1870s To your patent to the universe that you created To your headache to the shape of the 1880s I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of fighting in your old-fashioned war To the lights to the lead painting in your homes Sunday night fears from Raw-head and Bloody-bones I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of fighting in your old-fashioned war Goodbye Seventies 1870s To your patent to the universe that you created To your prescription for the million vials of 1880 I'm glad that we don't hear you any more I'm tired of losing in your steam fashion war Goodbye Seventies 1870s ©2008 Alison Moyet/Malcom Schreeck
	MISTER SOOT'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK Got gallies on Gone trolling for bit o’ fun Under the bridge where they keep the real ladies! Her name was Christina Strumpet by trade A character in Mister Soot’s Traveling Parade It’s really quite handsome It’s never a tiresome night when the petticoats twirl It’s never a dull scene when his girls emerge From the steam in their carnival colors The calliope song Goes rolling for far too far Under the bridge where they don’t know for daylight The trollops go by and String up passersby No mercy for debtors in Mister Soot’s black book la-la-la It’s almost like magic It treats for the tricks Under the bridge where the wonders reside Come give them a go but leave when you’re told No horses for beggars in Mister Soot’s book But it’s really fantastic It’s rarely so tragic when a boy or a girl buys a girl It’s never a washout with nine pairs of tits out From the steam Here they come in their carnival colors, come on! ©2007 Malcom Schreeck		OPEN ARMS, EMPTY AIR listening to my thoughts talk in strange affected accents done waiting for my youth to get me by looking for that cloud of rain to burst with sound and vision rage open arms, empty air open arms, empty airs pardon me I make my way got to get out to the observation deck I go staring down pardon me I slip away I'm going overboard will I fall to heaven or to the ocean's floor listening to my thoughts talk soft and gray and delicate done waiting for the useless march of time looking for a sweet release to end it lightning quick open arms, empty air open arms, empty airs hurriedly I take my leave I have no reason to hang about this rusted wreck I know how this will end don't mind me I always lean this far against the rails find some joy in guessing when my balance fails soaring over the brittle earth roaring over forests of branches bare overfilled with primal drive we are the streamline we are the streamline listening to my thoughts talk in screaming flight of fancy plots done waiting for those winds of change looking for a perfect place to punctuate the rat race open arms, empty air open arms, empty airs pardon me I make my way have to get out to the observation deck I go staring down don't mind me I always seem this far off the rails find some kind of happiness in all life's little fails in these cold distances vacant and barren we are the streamline we are the streamline we are the tendrils we push through the sky-ways ©2007 Malcom Schreeck
	THE SKELETON GOES TO TOWN With a barker shot and a plea for pennies (Skeleton goes to town) Turn of a screw and daring-do too (Skeleton goes to town) With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl You know he’s not sugar and tea With a tall blue hat and a blade in his cane Quiet as a treason just give him a reason he will cure you from the ills of breathing Yes he will yes he will The Skeleton goes to town With a crack and a kick and a walking stick (Skeleton goes to town) Judiciary and Executioner too (Skeleton goes to town) With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl He’s a crusher, he’s a choker and a don With a graven pallor and no saving graces Quiet as a treason just give him a reason Hey-hey-hey-hey-one day we pray-hanging and draining in the public square Hey-hey-hey-hey-we say one day hanging and draining in the public square Plenty of years in the muck has driven him Crooked as a pig tail Vigil as a flat fixer He puts the stab in constabulary He wants to catch you at it Lock and stock and throw away the key Hey-hey-hey-hey-one day we pray-hanging and draining in the public square Hey-hey-hey-hey-we say one day hanging and draining in the public square With a barker shot and a plea for pennies (Skeleton goes to town) Turn of a screw and daring-do too (Skeleton goes to town) With a bone yard crawl and a priestly scowl You know he’s not sugar and tea With a tall blue hat and a blade in his cane Quiet as a treason just give him a reason Skeleton is painting the town tonight Skeleton is going to town tonight Tonight Skeleton is going to town ©2007 Malcom Schreeck