Show Do Tell: A Reading Series & Art Review

Verona Revisited I was thinking about a summer moon I was remembering the bomb in Times Square I was recalling that when I was with you I didn’t really care I was ransoming your promise I was planning out our life I never stopped to ask myself If you wanted to be my wife Bought time With a rhyme Never even tasted Your lips upon mine Swore I was fine Drinking the world But a guy can get tangled Whe...

Winding Down So vast This Expanse The moon surface Of my mind Lamp-light frames the snow And we go Deeper into that gentle night Which is blind to the past The roles we’ve been cast The dreams that have been denied Chorus: Winding down The lights flicker in town Then they die They die They die I have no illusions I’m paid to entertain the delusions Of the hierarchies and their disaffected Sons Con...

Discussing another wonderful Bob Dylan performance at Jones Beach and the travails of a completely disappointing, befuddling Yankees team.

Halloween Well, they said this one’s serious And not to go outside and smoke I figured my mother wasn’t delirious So I took note Hunkered alone in the basement Watching Season 5 of Mad Men I called to make sure you were aware And to feel like you still were a friend You sounded agitated And staticky on the line I said, you didn’t let that stupid bastard Talk you into giving him a ride Chorus There...

Burnt Leaves You never ask me to come over When you sit at the end of the bar With a look on your face Like you’re watching the implosion of a star Was it another audition Where the casting director led you on? Now you’re looking to score So we can discuss the golden era past the break of dawn I never tell you that you’re too temperamental For such a brutal line of work That your kindness would be...

An update on a Yankees season that has gone off the rails.

Fall is Falling It seemed like a good idea She was 23 with a book deal Aren’t some fantasies allowed to be real? The exceptional ideal Chorus: Though I really hoped it We are not the same Fall is falling You’re not calling my name My friends said i miscalculated I thought they were sexually frustrated We all might have necks and backs aggravated But that shouldn’t mean a life of hesitation Chorus...

The Logic of His Wings He spent the night Thinking about Madonna While restless In his bed During many of his Waking hours He acted out the dreams In his head Of being a baseball star A wrestler An action hero without a face The world was moving so Frantically around him He couldn’t keep Pace Beauty everywhere Beauty nowhere Beauty in the shadow Of a pigeon At the park Beauty everywhere Beauty now...

Freedom Tower This city used to be Lit by torchlight Dusk has fallen Deep I am caught between Cohabitating realities And unsure which dream I get to keep They finished the Freedom Tower My uncle said “They should have rebuilt it the same.” On the avenues paper men make an indifferent show Of disintegrating in the rain Chorus: I was the toast of Greenwich Village For about two minutes, once Glory w...

Letter to My Double returns with our first episode about the 2025 Yankees!

Glittering How did we ever get in this party? They must have thought we were the help The mid-June moon Over the World Trade Tomb I don’t want to leave this rooftop With anyone else The host is a rich old bachelor Loves what I paint Your platinum hair Is like permission to stare You say, considering the three thousand churches In this town there are precious few saints Chorus: And it is summer nex...

Equinox The sun slipped through A gray cloud And illuminated the scene The town hummed In sudden thrall As if stirred from winter’s dream The sidewalk seized By children spilling Recklessly into the street You stood beside The blue mailbox Where we’d agreed to meet Equinox, equinox Has returned to life Everything you forgot Equinox, equinox All your old hopes You stored away in a box Equinox, equi...

New York Summer Live And forgive It’s New York summer Grieve Don’t leave It’s New York Summer Fly But don’t die Lest faith be torn asunder Survive And thrive It’s New York Summer The policemen And drug dealers Are serenading you The Yankees and The Homeless Want to rendezvous On River Avenue Its New York Summer Cry Don’t simply sigh Its New York summer Sweat For respect Its New York summer Never l...

Lyrics by Matt Waters and Zara Adam-Waters I never think of you Except when I hear “greed is good,” It takes me back To what I misunderstood The way you looked every night Like you could never fail You always hated the ending When the villain went to jail I couldn’t help stalling in love Despite your disarming charm I almost sold my dreams To be the one on your arm Would it be a love song If we fo...

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 B...

Island of Broken Boys This piece of plastic Is fantastic Accompanies me Through the sullen snow Our future recedes It was once orgiastic Now I practice Forgetting what I know The chief of police Held a press conference I watched it through the Window of a bar Where a faceless man Stirred a gin and tonic Watched a commercial With a pretty, singing star Jammed a cold hand in my overcoat And I contin...

Performing my song ‘Luck & Love’ on the West Side of Manhattan.

These Psychic Fields From the hotel window The city is a kaleidoscope Of blurred light In the bedroom mirror You voice your positive affirmation Once, and then twice The nightstand offers A torn pack of baseball cards And an empty bottle of Sapporo You watch another Twilight Zone Incredulous at the idea There’s two hours until tomorrow These psychic fields That connect you & me It has to be real O...

Talking all things Yankees hot stove in late November!

Paradox World Sometimes at night I fall into soft shadows Because the way of the stray Is to shelter from harm Then the bread-truck is unloading While the birds are calling From perches above the boulevard It’s like an algorithm remembering your favorite song I’m ambivalent about sunlight Like when these gridlocked cars On narrow blocks sweat like battalions Led by someone terribly wrong And we’re...

Twilight of the Gods It wasn’t about hope They just couldn’t take a joke But they let you run your mouth Because it gave them more rope You said they’d remember your name For all the honor in literary fame But you wound up crying outside your mother’s In the rain Twenty-five years to retire An indefinite date to expire Almost got fired over a pothole Dad never taught you how to change a tire Twili...

Paradigm

At The National Show A cloudless summer day Got off the wrong stop on the train Before the low-hanging night Was engulfed by rain I was walking through the park And the show decided to start Heard the man singing about soul And I moved nearer to take part Had ventured out solo Instead of staying home A few of my recent dates Were like talking to a stone I swear I felt you there And in my memory I...

When It Rains These Days Have you ever felt Like you were just watching your life? Staying alive Opting for flight instead of fight The hours pass They assume you have nothing better to do Than to pace in a room Speaking the untrue Lightening in the sky The twilight of the popular mind If the wind-up toys ever remember They made themselves blind And when it rains These days It feels like forever A...

Blunderland The streetlights glowed Chrystal white Against a confetti veil Of falling snow We looked to the left, looked to the right Picked nowhere in particular To go The champagne was nestled In the crook of your scarecrow arm We thought we’d spend The rest of our lives Never hearing an alarm Blunderland, Blunderland I guess it’s hard to understand How heavy reality rests In the palm of an ordi...