“Those guys were
supposed
to be out there
fixing the car,
tuning the engine”

“taking your clothes off and climbing into bed with you”

“He survived
10 months in a Ghana prison
to die at The Mall?”

“Your pretty dress a hammer knocking against the eyes of God.”

“Obama stuck
his head out the door.
He was wearing an apron”

“whiskey,
that philosopher of despair; next, the moon, like
it even cares”

“taking those sweet notes and breathing them acid”

“I pick a bomb up
and hold it to my ear”

“pushes the boundaries of the band’s usual magical melancholy”

“Mysteries and marvels, sober opium dream”

“When I run to the neighbors for help,
they are all staring at the ceiling”

“everything is hot and wonderful and wholly impossible”

“I’m full of bad ideas, mostly
when my ear is to the universe”

“They wanted to be great warriors,
but they weren’t in a war”

“The album has some lofty ambitions, and wears its servo-heart on its shiny sleeve”

“I pat Barbara, bury the spent casings, baptize the fresh mounds of earth in the blood of questions.”

“the folds of blankets
and clothes twisted around torsos
like licorice ropes”

“I like a song that can swell well, and this one is a tidal wave”

“day-glo yellow to Krylon-haze orange to highway-flare pink”

“You haven’t had human sexual activity in 93.5 days”