Random Lyric Poet

I’ve decided that, if yesterday’s poem had been composed by somebody, this is what that person is like, and why they wrote it.

He’s a guy…a little older than me. Maybe, like 34 or 35, or so.

I picture him as white. He has longish hair…maybe down to his shoulders. He also has a beard, but he keeps it neatly trimmed. He favors khakis over jeans, and usually wears a t-shirt, with a short-sleeved button shirt over top.

He’s definitely a sneaker/sandal guy.

He creates websites for a living, and is pretty good at it. He likes his job, but he doesn’t love it, or anything. But it pays him well, and he can make his own hours. He has a desk, but he can work from home, if he wants to. He gets along really well with his co-workers. They sometimes go out for beers after work. They even get together on weekends, occasionally.

He plays piano. He used to be in a band, but he didn’t really want to pursue it. He doesn’t particularly enjoy touring, and harbors no desire to be famous. He just plays and writes songs for fun.

The poem is for his ex-girlfriend. They broke up a year to the day ago. They had been together for 5 years. They had shared the apartment he was living in for three of those years.

It wasn’t a horrible break up. It had been in the works for months. It was one of those situations where they simply drifted apart. At some point they lost the desire to speak to one another. He found himself staying up late at night, only going to bed after she was asleep. Eventually, she moved over to the spare bedroom. The title kind of refers to this...the way they began to avoid each other at night, and ignore each other in the morning.

He felt awful, but couldn’t muster up the strength to put things back on track. The first verse of the poem is about that. The “taste in his mouth” describes the doom he felt for the relationship. “Desperation takes hold”, but he’s helpless to act on it.

They had traveled a lot together in the early days. They even hitchhiked together. That’s why he mentions Interstate 91. That was a tough day. They had been thumbing for hours, with no luck. They had their first real fight that day. That was also the day he realized how fiercely he loved her. He remembers thinking, that day, that this was the girl he’d be with forever. But God had other plans…

The second verse deals mostly with his feelings after they broke up. It was a rough time for them both. After five years of monogamy, he dove into the dating scene headfirst. But he had no idea “who was wrong” and “who was right” for him. This was the time that he realized just how much he missed her. She knew him, and loved him, despite his flaws, and as hard as he tried, he just couldn’t find anyone to replace her. Eventually, however, the days got brighter. He thought of her, often, very fondly. He wasn’t willing to accept the fact that she was moving on, though. He still preferred to think that she was pining for him…”crying behind the door”. “Sunday’s Clown” refers to the goofy, relaxed way they used to make each other laugh. He missed the little world they had made for themselves, in amongst a city full of people who didn’t love life they way that they had.

The third verse refers to their new dynamic. They recently got back in touch, and he’s forced to accept the fact that she has moved on. She sent him an email, asking him out for lunch. He accepted, and they met in a food court, one year after she moved out.

She has a new job that requires her to wear business attire. The first line is a snarky (kind of bitter) reference to this. “It’s a long way back to Germany” refers to, once more, to the traveling they once did together (they once had sneaky, quiet sex in a hostel in Bonn). The third line is a bit of a melodramatic lament on the death of romantic love. The final line of this verse asks why they even bothered to have a relationship, if it was only going to end.

In the final two lines, he wishes they could go back to the old days, but knows it’ll never happen. Then he asks for his sweater back. He loves that sweater, and their apartment was always a bit cold…

Poor guy. He’ll be okay, though. Personally, I think he should buy that piano he found on Craigslist. He’s got the money, and it would totally fit in the spare room…


Jim Out.