Factories in Minnesota sound an ominous hum as night falls over (an) empty truck stop town forty miles from Fargo and the roads are pitch black You're getting off at the next exit 'cause you're getting low on gas and the convenience store is closed You haven't seen headlights in hours Just deer Just black This is how I associate the dark in December when I'm on my way home Blocking out the wind Leaning up against the bus stop structure walls if you're lucky Watching cockroaches dig for scraps of nutrients in piles of garbage and dirt I can still hear the hum I was a(n) unseen pest that fed on rust We found home in the infrastructure No gates to block this sudden flood We throw our ghosts into the gutters Walk along the medians like tightropes Asleep on concrete beds No rest, he's out for blood The stress is weighing down your shoulders Stumble 'cross the dreary sidewalk Horns and headlights, you slept atop the crosswalk They live in hopeless bliss Sometimes I wish I could give in My hands burn holes in pockets I summon cigarettes and piss I am the pigeon god and I'll feed the roaches when I'm gone Born of a heartache Spun from the twine of love Becoming the property (of) the force that pulls the strings Falling in love with someone I hardly know doesn't fill the void Helps to warm my bones (I listen as they creak) Strip malls and million dollar homes Syringes and snow Blood and broken glass in the roads The auras in the sky from five towns away Bodies radiating frequencies Collective in the streets What music we could be but it's all lost in the noise (I was tuned in once before) The threads of our existence sown like patterns on a quilt We wrapped it tight around us We slept beneath the shield Our voices trailed behind our backs like tracks in frozen fields A whole forest worth of firewood and two decades worth of guilt I still feel them here I see their ripples in the atmosphere I look to my sides No one's around but I know you're there wherever life has brought you What makes you feel warm? I watch the fields pass I fall back asleep I can see the light illuminate the sky I roll up the window I sink into the seat I can see the light illuminate the sky I pull onto mainstreets I leave my heart behind I can feel the tears well up in my eyes Your presence is my blanket I pull my coat closed I sight down the road I can see my breath saturate the air The moon is a bulb The sky has a pulse I can see my breath saturate the air

Odors blow from the mesa The stench of rotting flesh A man approaches me He says that's not somebody's pet or roadkill That's something big It's buried shallow too It brings back memories You'll smell it too next week A vinegaroon was hunting in the shadows I watched it wave its pincers I fed my headphones through my sweatshirt and closed my eyes Passengers asleep aboard the 157 Same ones there every night From Taylor Ranch to Louisiana They come and go And that's my family for the night The night air is frigid I can't move my fingers And now I remember who I am Alone with the streetlights The wind cries out to me but I can't make out a single word The night air is frigid I can't move my fingers And now I remember who I am Alone with the streetlights The wind cries out to me but I can't make out a single word It just makes me feel cold and I want it to stop I woke up in Spokane The slowing movement broke my sleep as we approached the overpass Lights blinking on the rooftops of buildings Helicopters sitting dormant on their pads People exited the train to smoke cigarettes Rows of cars were parked behind the barbed wire fence Graffiti coats the walls of the station A light pole was cradling a bird's nest I couldn't help but think of being stranded there I heard the hum ring throughout the Washington air and after years of wondering what it is I've concluded it's the music, and we are always tuned in I know that I was wrong to search for something more when everything I love was a part of the very air I breathe all along They tried to close the ditches (with) fences and locks but we just moved on Now can't we settle down? Hold me in your arms Silence is death Silence is death I'll wear your whispers like a jacket I'll fall asleep inside your breath I hear your voice under the bridges Your tires mark the overpass On station walls and bathroom stalls We paint this city like a canvas Black ice coats the surface of the road Nobody in their cars Everyone avoids the cold but tonight I am the insects on the ground I am one with the streets I am sleeping in the road and I'll let the horns sound Just let me freeze