I saw your status update -like, like, like I saw that photo of you on your new bike You’re walking and talking and watching and eating And somehow found time for that business meeting On social media we are never tongue tied You’re fine, how am I? I saw your post about your new blood test Those numbers really have the world impressed Photos of your friends in every permutation Are being retweeted across the nation What happened to the days when folks would hide? You’re fine, how am I? How am I? I guess if you look at my facebook page, never been better But would I paint a different picture if I wrote you a letter Everyone’s doing great except when they ain’t But look at us all, we all sound like saints Everyone’s active and perfectly framed Never self-conscious, never ashamed And so I say it again with a sigh You’re fine how am I? © 2015 M. Skliar

Back in Junior High School, I didn’t like sports Picked last for every team So I turned my attention to other things Or stayed in my head and dreamed Stay weird, stay different Stay as strange as you are Stay weird stay different One day you're gonna be a star If I could give advice to that me long ago A 14 year old skinny kid Who did a lot of talking and telling of jokes Trying to keep sadness hid Stay weird, stay different Stay as strange as you are Stay weird stay different One day you're gonna be a star Now I’m not some huge movie star or a king or a queen with their own country, But I know there’s nobody else who is quite like me Stay weird, stay different Stay as strange as you are Stay weird stay different One day you're gonna be a star © M. Skliar 2015

I'm starting a journey from my head to my heart I have not been down there in years The same old things have kept me back the same collection of fears My hearts been sending messages up, my head just files them away It's done it's best to ignore the things that my heart has to say well I packed my bags & headed out, aiming for my destination stopped along the way for something to eat, a little creative procrastination talking myself out of continuing the journey to that unknown what if I got there and I found out my heart was just made of stone? And oh the language that my heart was speaking, would I require a translation Sending me pure feeling when all I knew was information But maybe some of that feeling started finding a path inside Something felt different, and I knew I enjoyed the ride lyric (c) 2015 m. Skliar

There was one single study once, linking autism and vaccines Turns out the study was fraudulent, this is what that means The whole thing was made up, & completely untrue Rebutted again and again, so what are you gonna do? Will you vaccinate your kids or must I tell it like it is? Cause if not, you're a menace and a moron Now you want to raise kids some special way, I get it Do what you want except if that choice, make the rest of us sick Babies too young to get shots can be killed by your unvaxed offspring Which forces me to write these words, and have the rest of us sing Will you vaccinate your kids or must I tell it like it is? Cause if not, you're a menace and a moron So many childhood diseases prevented, till some stupid parents dissented The measles battle was won but now there's a war on, cause of you morons Look I get that you want to live naturally, without a lot of chemical fuss And ingredients you can't pronounce, they sound dangerous Let me tell you about danger, when your kid kills someone, how will you sleep? Or maybe it’s your kid who bites the dust; will you sow just what you reap? Will you vaccinate your kids or must I tell it like it is? Cause if not, you're a menace and a moron © M. Skliar 2015

Look at me, who do you see? Are you really seeing? Do you notice my face morphing? Into a different human being? And have you tried to study your own You might find it to be frightening Its easy to deny we’d be this way But it comes on faster than lightning Falling, falling, my skin is crawling And settling around my knees Calling, calling, childhood is bawling And begging me not to leave Stalling, Stalling, stay with me please…. Who knew a mirror could just terrify Good thing I can’t feel what I can’t see Yet the aches and pains the wrinkles and lumps Just sneak up on me Lets make a deal not to look again Let’s pretend we’re who we were before Without war paint staining out cheeks War paint? That’s right, this is war Falling, falling, my skin is crawling And settling around my knees Calling, calling, childhood is bawling And begging me not to leave Stalling, Stalling, stay with me please…. Funny how much time it took To take a very long hard look Those crease of anger split our faces Time just drips until it flows Eventually a lethal dose With hardly any saving graces © 2015 Angelina Powers (w/ Mike Skliar)

Here I am, I’m still alive Try another year on for size Still writing ‘bout all this crazy jive Been a while since I played out live But here I am, to my surprise did my ship come in, did it arrive hard to say, but ive survived the ripe old age of 55 I heard that number & thought ‘old age’ Like is it time to get off the stage You put that number on a page Seems like I’m as old as the stone age there’s only so much you can rage Father time’s got us in his cage I’m redefining it as middle age Not a young Turk not an old sage (Yet) And yes it's true you can bet There are things in my life I'd rather forget And certain people I wish I'd met But in so many ways I’m really set I'm lucky to be married to The one that stops me feeling blue The only one for me was you Morning noon and night that's true Got little health stuff joints and knees But I still got my hair, please And tho its true I nap with ease And I’ll never get back on those skis I never skied in the past Not that you really had to ask I’m slowing down I can still think fast Not always first but not always last Here I am, I’m still alive Try another year on for size Guess its true ive survived To the ripe old age of 55 (c) M. Skliar 2015

you can't push on a rope or pull yourself down you cannot escape to within. so instead of standing your own kind of ground you go punching at shadows again. you can't drown in hope or eat off your dreams you cannot live on a whim. so instead of confronting the way that it seems you go punching at shadows again. can't keep punching at shadows-- you have to let go before the past messes up your aim if you’re fighting your demons instead of your foe you've only yourself to blame. you can't recall real pain or fake true disgust you cannot feign real fear. so i beg you for the love of all i hold dear don't go punching at shadows again. no shadow exists without a light behind except the shadows in your mind don't feed them and they will wander away, no need to punch at shadows you’ll find lyric by Tim Echols

Frost on the windows ice on the pond Everything is painted with a white magic wand Big blizzard aftermath No streets no path. No school Winter of maybe '69 Adults were concerned but us kids were fine Flying saucer sled up on the hill Too close to the highway almost got us killed In an alternate universe it would be a tragedy Why nothing happened is a mystery Within a week the snow would melt Hard to remember just how we felt (c) M. Skliar 2015

My friend Mona has been sitting and looking from behind the glass window Looking at the Tourists looking at her for years they come and go They come because she's famous written up in all the books But how many who come to stare really really look Years on the job, never retired you can't blame Mona for being tired You're so small i hear them say, they even say you're lame They'd probably pass right by if you didn't have that name They take their selfies after turning their backs to prove that they were there Then there off somewhere to eat and drink and park their derrière Now her friends have been out and toured the world in every continent But she is just too valuable (to all the world ) to ever be sent So she sits behind the glass with a smile that's just a teaser And says to all the world here I am Mona Lisa (c) M. Skliar 2015

A Nobel prize, skinny thighs Phd, Piano prodigy All those unrealized crazy schemes All there in the Vacant lot of abandoned dreams Bigger ambition, famous mathematician Wealthy physician , Vegas magician The captain of that famous football team All there in the Vacant lot of abandoned dreams Weeds between the cracks where no dreams can grow Thoughts of park avenue turn slowly into skid row A compromise here, a deal there Deal wasn’t square, life’s never fair It felt so close but was farther away then it seemed All there in the vacant lot of abandoned dreams (c) M. Skliar 2015

Do you like bridges that don't fall, Planes in the air Food to be roach free, With not too much hair Or laws against sex trafficking, And less child labor Some military folks Protecting you and your neighbor Internet and the space program Government created The same Internet you use to say How government is hated Do you like having a library, Filled with books Do you like when the police, Arrest some crook Do you like to have some doctors, To help stop Ebola Do you like how there's no more cocaine, In coca cola This is the bridge to the song but in a libertarian world bridges might just collapse Everyone's entitled to their own opinion but they're not entitled to their own facts You can worship all day at the free market altar But all the facts of history you just can't alter Modern society needs a government strong You say your libertarian I say you're just wrong you’re just a bit too hung up on phony notions of ‘free’ Like Ayn Rand who collected social security Your parents went to college on the GI Bill Paid for by the government which you would like to kill You drive on public roads and went to public schools You may be nice in person I’m not saying you’re a fool But this libertarian thing has gotten out of control Don’t let some crazy doctrine eat away at your soul… don't be a libertarian (c) M. Skliar 2015

God is dead said Nietzsche others say he's just asleep But I just don't have faith or belief I don't think there someone up there sitting on a throne There is just no Commander-in-Chief What there is nature beautiful and vast And maybe the most beautiful thing is to laugh So I worship Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers too George Carlin, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks Louis CK, Lily Tomlin, the Monty Python crew, Dudley Moore and Peter Cook repeat then ad lib section then , whatever (c) M. Skliar 2015

Jon Stewart’s leaving, Colbert has left And I’m feeling so bereft There’s more real news in these fake news shows Who always showed us the emperor’s new clothes Who’s gonna analyze what it all means The twists and turns from now to 2016 Who’s taking issues on, no one would touch The rest of the media, not so much who skewers Fox for the clowns that they are making up facts to get us into war who finds hypocrisy in right wing indignation finding video with that fatal quotation more talent was discovered on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show then ice cubes held by an Eskimo Jon Stewart’s leaving, Colbert has left And I’m feeling so bereft There’s more real news in these fake news shows Who always showed us the emperor’s new clothes (c) M. Skliar 2015

When I’m wrapped up in my special snowflake bull--- it And I think that I’m the best that ever was Will you shoot me down but not too hard this time? Talk me down without killing all the buzz Will you leave me with some sense of perspective? Not too high, but not down in the trash Won’t you be my subtle corrective? Lukewarm water, cool down my hot flash I get high, I get low, I just don’t know where to go When the ego’s driving much too fast I just know this stuff ain’t gonna last…. (c) M. Skliar 2015

This love starts with just a tree And on this tree there is, you see This little thing that’s called a pod Which you might think is very odd And in this pod there are these seeds Which normally grow trees like weeds But seeds you see are also beans and by quite clever artful means those beans are gathered in a pile this whole thing can take a while till people probably not named Jeeves cover with banana leaves the beans are left there to ferment and then the beans are quickly sent back to the sun to dry and dry and then they sail or maybe fly across the world by parcel post where they begin to roast and roast in giant cylinders of metal forged not yet ready to be gorged the beans thus roasted then get ground that process makes a fearsome sound into things that they call nibs that’s really true, that’s no ad lib then nibs are crushed into a paste they use it all, no part they waste chocolate liquor is what its named tho there’s no alcohol just the same then they pour it into molds eat it now its not just bold but really really bitter those chocolate makers they’re no quitters they then put in a special machine which does the strangest things you’ve seen airate and fold and whisk and pound and then the sugar, in heaps and bounds is added with some other stuff soy lecithin to make less rough cause smooth is gonna get you far to make the finest chocolate bars tempered cooled and heated then then they do it again and again such a very big labor to get that very special flavor and what does all this have to do with love, and what’s it all to you well who does not love chocolate bars Godiva Hershey’s or even Mars Cadbury’s a British brand In Switzerland they understand and Brooklyn out in Williamsburg go there if you feel the urge the brothers Mast, with matching beards obsessed with chocolate, really weird they sailed it up from Venuzuela had to pay a lot of sailors hand crafted on north third street you go there and it’s really neat artesinal they call it now the milk not just from any cow ive tasted it, its quite sublime old chocolates’ having quite a time so now you know from near and far what really makes a chocolate bar (c) M. Skliar

If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu To be sliced, cut up and divided, by those much richer then you They’ll start nibbling away at the unions, keep minimum wages too low then call it right to work, till you’ve got no place else to go Next election Koch brothers will spend more, then both political parties will And Rile up the red states with issues, as fake as a three dollar bill To distract and exploit you, and maximize their every dollar and dime You think that there’s income inequality now, just wait until they draw the lines If you didn’t arrive in your own private jet, you didn’t arrive at all If you don’t have a team of accountants to be at your beck and call If you cannot buy all the lobbyists and the tax cuts that they can push thru If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu (c) M. Skliar 2015