Hairshirt Fracture - Jim Carroll

It’s a garbage truck hour, I’m sleeping in the shower

I’m feeling like I’m waiting on a train

By the sounds from my bed I think somebody’s bled

All over something someone’s keeping clean

I don’t need anything, just make it bright

Then turn it low

You don’t need more than me

You could live right there beneath the stairs

I’ve done it, I’ve said all I can, I’ve reached the end

Now you must learn to bend

Bend to the floor, taste the core

You’re not going nowhere

Leave the money right there

I feel the arrow sticking in my ear

We owe so much we pawned

Now watch the power come undone

I’m standing on my head to watch the day just drift away

This city always makes the same mistakes, asleep or awake

I’m sick of waking up inside white balloons

Inside of blue balloons

New York air is sweet tonight

There’s no stars but that’s all right

I’m breathing