I Know Better

I Know Better Ice cold morning A hole in my shoe I have to make some money To afford fast food It is raining razor blades But I’m in a good mood Everyone gets lucky sometimes I’m about due People bleed in different places diamond-shaped cuts in their faces Gashes on their elbows and knees Turn to ice-sealed scabs at 11 degrees I know better To be undermined by bad weather You shouldn’t be swayed By the well-meaning brigade Who want reality quarantined In their living room I don’t like parties I do like you Blistering summer evening The concrete undulates I’m strolling the neighborhood Off the 3 AM train The moon is an empty plate My mind and body are plagued By the realization of wherever I go My malady refracts in new array Everyone has the right advice I’m unemployed, they’re Jesus Christ Preaching a sermon of responsibility to me Because I’m on an indefinite vacation after my bachelor’s degree I know better To be undermined by bad weather You shouldn’t be swayed By the well-meaning brigade Who want reality quarantined In their living room I don’t like parties I do like you Coda: Well you don’t judge me You have this habit of just listening The same way cardinals perch On branches and absorb another day Beginning and ending They are programmed to fly, die, eat And perhaps barely understand what they are It was a long, lonely summer The first time I played my guitar And it was a dark, cold winter Only a little while after that I disappeared through a number of indistinct doors With an NY upon my hat