My brother’s blood boils in my arms   It balls my fingers into fists   It bubbles, blisters, burns my palms   It floods with fury, fights and fits   It’s got the good guy in me hiding    It kicks my humble heart around   It’s got me fiending for the fire   That could finish off this town.      My brother’s blood on a cherry tree   It stains the bark from branch to root   It puddles thick with pits and leaves   It strains the sweetness from the fruit   It kept me looking for communion   A meeting point off underground   An empty plot I could climb into   An (iron) (lightening) cartoon promise in my mouth      A blackout oath I swore and meant   But couldn’t conjure up again   I don’t know one thing about my brother’s blood      My brother’s blood   In my dirty lungs   In my crooked mouth   On my swollen tongue   On my father’s gun   In each stranger’s face   Across the bluebird sky   On each hand I shake   Night after night   Each chuckled prayer   Such sweet relief   Fists full of hair   My brother’s back   My father’s arms   Each twisted fact   In my sorry heart      All that dialogue   Doubling back at me   All that tangled talk   All that growling need   And each desperate drive   For elusive peace   And each endless night   And each wasted week      I spit and scream “what’s done is done   Go make your peace with everyone”   They don’t need to know about my brother’s blood.