Leather skin cracks in the heat
Iron lattice burns my cheek
Pages fan a brittle beat
Ink bleeds where the shadows streak
I'm a fire escape hymnal
Rust and vellum psalms to mend all
Altos hum in copper throat
Summer dusk makes iron float
Spine holds a soprano's ghost
Dust settles on the highest coast
Breath marks penciled in the margin
Counting rests in rusted carbon
I'm a fire escape hymnal
Rust and vellum psalms to mend all
Altos hum in copper throat
Summer dusk makes iron float
Grid of metal third floor view
Screen door slaps a wooden cue
Moth powder on the bulb so blue
Night writes verses breaking through
No organ here no padded pew
Just gravity and faded blue
My cover warps the glue gives way
But still I catch the words you say
Pages trap a locust shell
Pressing flat the summer swell
Cover snaps a dry farewell
Stories only metal tell
I'm a fire escape hymnal
Rust and vellum psalms to mend all
Altos hum in copper throat
Summer dusk makes iron float
Dawn will climb the rungs again
Dew will bead on leather skin
But tonight I hold the pen
And the alto comes from within
I'm a fire escape hymnal
Rust and vellum psalms to mend all
Altos hum in copper throat
Summer dusk makes iron float
Hum the tonic find the rung
Summer steel sings unsung
