His was an abnormal childhood
Small in size and stature for his grade
From walk to limp his joints began to stick
The doctor said he'd do the best he could

Bonaparte would surely start a war

by Derek Pearson

Dearest Josephine
I haven’t seen your hazel eyes in ages
Write me letters, woman, pages
Tear me from the war that rages
Fill my mind with pleasantries
Listen to me like my infantries
Must you be so charming?
What do you do when you’re not writing me?

Men bore me I hate them too
They take my heart away from you
I long to crush you in my arms
and curse the war that must keep us apart
No my darling it’s not jealousy
I only sometimes worry
Your portrait hangs by my desk
I gaze at it when I am feeling stressed

Please my sweet (please my sweet)
Josephine (Josephine)
My beloved (my beloved)
wife and queen (wife and queen)
I live for
Josephine
You alone are my history

How come you must call me vous?
Madame, how cold, well, vous you!
Tell me that you love me less
Be true to me, be honest
If my heart were mad enough
to love without returned love
I would rip it outside of my chest
and tear it violently to shreds.

Please my sweet (please my sweet)
Josephine (Josephine)
My beloved (my beloved)
wife and queen (wife and queen)
I'd die for
Josephine
You alone are my history

By Jillian Leigh

Things are going to be different when you're grown
Things are going to be different when you're grown
We'll be driving in cars that are run by the sun
or we'll be riding on horses like Napoleon.

Cause this is what happens when you run out of gas (run out of gas)
Some kind of change, it's drastic and happens fast (happens so fast)
When you're driving in cars that are run by the sun (driving cars run by the sun)
or else you're riding on horse like Napoleon (ride my horse like Napoleon)

Did you get the say-so for the gender of the kids?
No you didn't, no you didn't, but I know someone who did
Genau so mit the harbingers and causes of the end
but you can publish your predictions even after it's beginned
And this is what happens when you run out of gas
And this what happens if you fail to react
We'll be driving in cars that are run by the sun
or we'll be riding on horses like Napoleon.

I eat the animals who dare to come (I eat the animals who dare to come)
I shoot the animals with my gun (I shoot the animals with my gun)
And I drive in my car that is run by the sun
I ride on my horse that is named Napoleon (ride my horse like Napoleon)
There is no need that we pay for pornography (no need, no need!)
Everybody gets their rocks off for free (rocks off for free)
And we're driving in cars that are run by the sun
or we're riding on horses like Napoleon (ride my horse like Napoleon)

by Zachary Gresham

Could they tell by his stature
that he'd lead and command?
Did he kill or did he capture
when invading those lands?
What was he after
in the snow and the sand?
Was he greeted by laughter
or did they meet his demands?

Have a drink with me
to the memory
of a once great, of a once great man
Give a hand for a once great man

Got word by French decree we heard your empire's dead
Ain't no armies to lead but goodbyes need said
To her who gave her heart and also gave you a son
A much younger Bonaparte to help you beat back the Hun

Who's conquering who now?

by Derek Pearson

I traveled backward in French history
I arrived in June of 1815
Not at all to my surprise, the land was at war
I assumed a fit disguise: a French Grande soldier

Then I saw in the fog
a man whose name has since lived on
He was tall, more than I thought
It is a lie we agree on

I pressed the button hooked onto my wrist
Won’t go into the exact mechanics
Speed of light! I was a blur that no one could see
Landed in the far future accidentally
Then I saw in the dawn
a land untamed since we were gone
Little bird sang me a song, “It was a lie you agreed on.”

I traveled backward to tell what I saw
Stopped in the present right where I belong
They don’t believe me they say that I’m wrong
They spread the lies that I won’t agree on!

by Jillian Leigh

I have never seen the sun so bright
And I have never seen the sun come out at night
And I have never felt the sun so hot
And I may be a lot of things
But I am a lot of things that you are not

There's only one thing that I can't control
That's the African sunshine and the Russian snow
There's only one sure way to get me to go
into the African sunshine and the Russian snow

I have never seen the sun reflected off the ground
And I have never seen so much white when I look around
And I have never been so cold on my cot
And I may be a lot of things
But I am a lot of things that you are not

Woolen cloaks and decorative lapels
Conqueror with funny hat on head
Emperor aside to generals
We don't need to pack much bread
Pretty soon we'll go ahead
Winter claimed the victory instead

There's only one thing that I can't control
That's the African sunshine and the Russian snow
There's only one sure way to get me to go
into the African sunshine and the Russian snow

by Zachary Gresham

Watch the fallen emperor
soaking in the bath water
The powder room is dead of sound
A silent killer waits around
star-shaped green and tall
camouflaged in the walls
Unseen unheard it bides its time
An accident is the perfect crime

It was the fifth of May
when his soul flew away
and still today
a mystery it remains
There are possibilities
There are many theories
It’s a game of clue
With what and where and who?

Watch our fearless emperor
drinking wine with his supper
The dining room is filled with guests
Next to him sits the countess
rosy lips and coyish eyes
royal hand upon her thighs
Out of revenge Count Montholon
laced the wine with poison

He faded from a four inch lesion
a wound he never got from war
Inside his gut the clashing legions
battled though there was no cure at all...

It was the fifth of May
when his soul, it flew away
1821
Au revoir Napoleon

by Jillian Leigh

Napoleon verses Genghis Khan
Head to head, brains or brawn
A match this fresh we can't go wrong
The screams rang out as fists are drawn
The crowd are jumping out their seat
No one admitting to defeat
The bets are in, turn up the heat
Bruise you lose so don't get beat

We bob and we weave and we get stupid (bob and we weave)
Your head's getting hazy and your jaws drooping (getting hazy)
Fall to your knees and I'm brain washing (fall to your knees)
Knock a bitch out and I'm still clocking

Round three rings the gong
Napoleon verses Genghis Khan
fuck the silver, fuck the bronze
If it's not gold then move along

by Derek Pearson

Three weird sisters come to me and prophesied
O my bride, and I cried with my eyes wide
Empiricide when I died in the place where I hide
Like a man chopping down a tree from the inside
What you know about protection from the evil eye?
Josephine I dreamt my time seven times
Is there blood on the table or sun reflected through the wine? Like a man chopping down a tree from the inside

March through the mire
Set it on fire
I ain't hazy, I ain't tired

I had a dream that I was this enormous nose
And I smelled all of human history in one aroma

by Zachary Gresham

He is no island
but he was born on one
The land of Corsica
was his very first home
And he hated to go to France
but his Mama said give it a chance
and leave this island

He is no island
but he fought against one
The land of Great Britain
was where he pointed his guns
And they called him a little man
but they didn’t know his bigger plan
to sink their island

He won’t stop or give it up
Wears an army on his cuff
Waves a victory flag above
Takes without asking, he is the last king

He is no island
he was exiled to one
The land of Elba
was where they made him run
They still called him emperor
but they took away his power
He is no coward

He is no island
but he died on one
St. Helena
was not his last island
no he isn’t done

by Jillian Leigh

Westerly and Motherly, she
She Awaits me, patient yet
Love for you is brotherly, see
Can I bum a cigarette

Running ink on crumpled letters
Will you take it to my wife
If I'm down and don't get better
At the closing of my life

We'll stay warm if huddled together
Though I'd prefer if we had feathers
We'll fly south to warmer weather
Switch our faith like switch or lever

We step in time
and walk side by side
we are the front line
short lived by design

Oh my brother, you are bleeding
Take my belt, a tourniquet
Madman staff of Hermes Leading
Into greedy Hades' grip

by Derek Pearson

Your head
Your mind when you're feverish
Plays tricks on you
But you still heed it
Why you got to heed it?
What about snow?
It's not cold in here
But it will be soon
As I am in this room

The words are in your mouth
Your mouth when you're feverish
Says crazy things
But I still hear it
Why I got to hear it?
What about the sun?
Keep your clothes on in here
They'll send you off soon
For praying to the moon

I recall the night when France collapsed
Autocrats and people I didn't know
Carriages pulling up in the snow
A special room where they let me go
I'd never met an emperor before
I did not speak the language he did
I knew their cultures and folklore
Reminded me when I was a kid
The headmaster and things I did
His name was Napoleon

Oh, no
No, we are not in Rome
Oh, no
No, don't take off your clothes
Please don't make me shout
Because I am not about what this is about
So shut your fevermouth

Dear
Your mother isn't here
Been dead for years
Please don't act so queerly
Please don't stand so near me
What about who?
Dressed in blue and white
Talking about your vest
When you were at your best

by Zachary Gresham

Hand me down authority from all my father's thrones
Bind the hand of mutiny before it takes control
Shelter all the women and the children from the cold
Send the men to war for land and stay to mine for gold
And tell all of your children you'll be there when they are old
Just tell them you'll be watching them and they will make it so

We don't see their faces but we know that they are there
We have received instructions for invading everywhere
We have discovered peoples whom we find inferior
We let loose the foxes running through their town square
And I tell all of my children that it's me in their heads
Those voices are convincing they'll do everything I said

I say a lot of things and they are not so
but my children don't know, no my children don't know
I inspire admirement most places I go
but I can't have them worshipping something made out of gold
like I'm inessential.

Conscious of my subjects with their ears turned to the ground
Some of them are wailing at the burial mound
I make up the rules because sometimes I don't hear a sound
but none of them remember so I write the laws down
And I have become suspicious of these new deities
Do I need a new divinity for every nicety?

I say a lot of things and they are not so
but my children don't know, no my children don't know!
I inspire admirement most places I go
but I can't have them worshipping something made ot of gold!
If it ain't me then I can't see them doing as their told!
Am I the only one with any sense of control? This is essential!

by Zachary Gresham

Roaming through Farafra
stumbling over dunes
Desert fox looks at her sideways
She tells him her strange news
"On the streets of Cairo
on my way to class
felt my bones they shattered
My head fell through the glass

“Frail and white and female
labeled not to touch
MRl's, X-rays and rehab!
I had to learn so much."
Desert fox keeps silent
He knows not what to say
Her story's grim and violent
but here she is today

Allahu Akbar!

by Jillian Leigh

I had an uncle
he's left handed too
He got bumped in the noggin
as builders often do
He don't hear voices no more
Can't hear the gods no more
he don't know what to do
He don't make love to his woman (he don't build temples too)

I am a hunter
l am seventeen
My women live under
the Mountain of the King
He is ubiquitous, ubiquitous, ubiquitous you bet!
He tells us what to do
he watches over them
He has his way with them (just like he does the men)

Uncle William hasn't been himself since he was cracked on his head
He don't see the faces when the gods come through the mist like you and I do when it's needful

He has dreams
he says they're full of omens
What is divination?
Thinks he knows what's coming
but we know he doesn't

Once he said
after bumped on the head
That religion was bunk
l knew that it would not be long
because you can count on one thing
and that's the nature of the king
and if the gods says he must go
then that's the end of your uncle

by Zachary Gresham

My mascara has run away
My hair has seen better days
Weathered hands from soap scum
While you're hounding my eardrum

I only want you to love me
You only tell without showing

Up before the sun I rise
My day and night have traded sides
Blistered hands, so rough
The money isn't enough
The money is never enough

I only want you to love me
You only tell without showing
I only want you to show me!

I don't get why I keep giving
The towel is throwing itself
Understand stop overthinking
We think too much of ourselves

I don't get why I give myself
Understand! Stop thinking of yourself!
Don't forget that I'm forgiving
We ought to show what we tell

by Jillian Leigh & Ryan LaFave

We used to lie around
you know, just talking
like good people do
with their husbands and their wives
I used to ask him all of the time
"What's going to happen
to us when we die?"

You sleep, O you sleep
and you don't know nothing
You sleep, O you sleep
when you lie in your grave
Can I have your number?
Because I need Christians
Ain't it true God
O, he makes no mistakes?

He went to his mother's
where he went most daily
He went to his mama's
in the bad part of town
He's hit on the head
by a kid with an object
He's hit on the head
and then he lie down

Here is a picture
a copy from service
I go to church
on Sundays and cry
I cry and I cry!
He's been on my mind
most all of this morning
and all of last night

Ain't we supposed to
pray for the dead?
Pray for the dead
who are sleeping alone
I never knew
that we were supposed to
pray for their memories
and pray for their souls

by Zachary Gresham

Sure is busy around here
working more than nine to five
Sure is busy around here
feel like death but got to look alive
I am seventeen years old
pretending to be an adult
Brush the blush on my cheeks
Fake all the happiness in me

Sure is crazy around here
See my face on TV screens
Sure is crazy around here
Read my scoop in magazines
This public life is bizarre
Talent for beauty got me far
Waves will rise and waves will fall
Do I really want this at all?

American royalty has got the sharks in a frenzy
Many celebrities become the chum that stains the sea
This trade is an ocean and I am on the brim
Fall into a maelstrom and will I sink or swim?
Sink or swim?

Sure is crowded around here
Cameras everywhere I go
Sure is crowded around here
Got no room for my elbows
Flashing lights, blinking bulbs
questions that are too personal
Caught in a famous undertow
Everyone leave me alone!

American royalty has got the sharks in a frenzy
Many celebrities become the chum that stains the sea
This trade is an ocean and I am on the brink.
Fall into a maelstrom and will I swim or sink?
Swim or sink?

Sure is lonely around here

by Jillian Leigh

When I get back from the submarine
with my porthole windows squeaky clean
I can see myself, have a shave
I will be okay but her diet drains me
It's bread and roughage, I'm not complaining
I wait on her, she waits for me
She's a scorpion, a carnivore
I've asked father what to do
I'm the captain of a submarine
Porthole windows squeaky clean

Ocean sober
I pretend it's over soon
Can’t you see I want to be alone?
Periscoper, pretty prayer roper now
You have got a stranger in your home

If we did not attack the mobs
then your husband would not have a job
Ships don't sink themselves I'm saying
I'll sink them ships if you start obeying
Woman! If I did not fight with you
then I would have nothing here to do
She's complaining
I am aging!
Underwater hibernating!

by Zachary Gresham

Heaven is real I've been
there are angels every
where are they I don't see
them's the paradoxes

Too much candy hurts your
teeth are made for biting
things aren't always what they
seems to me you're pretty

It was cold, I nearly
frozen tundra monster's
golden eyes watch all our
souls are warm like Eskimos

by Zachary Gresham

I can spit just like a soldier, but a soldier can't spit like me
I can dance just like a ballerina, but a ballerina can't touch me
I can slice a piece of pomegranate and pretend she is in front of me
I see Moses part the Red Sea every night before I go to sleep
I can rollerskate so fastly that a car can't keep up with me
I can drink the water anywhere and never catch any disease
I can look into your black, black soul and see the person that you want to be
And l can crash harder than an enormous tsunami and make you wish you never fucked with me!
Don't fuck with me!

by Zachary Gresham

I've got the same number
as the local hospital
It seems like everyday without fail
from six o'clock to noon
the phone inside my room begins to ring
I wish I was but I regret to inform you
I'm not who you're looking for
but I can tell by your tone that you wish I was
If only I was

No there is no doctor here
No one to help to dissolve your fears
Wish I could say that whom you hold dear
will return home free and clear

The number has changed but the problem is the same
Take Alexander's need for me to intercede
I have never been one found
on my knees in fear and trembling
And I have always thought church boring
I wish I was but I regret to inform you
I'm not who you're looking for
but I can tell by your tone that you wish I was
If only I was

No, there is no clergy here
I know not of this God you fear
I can't send you to whom you hold dear
with all of your conscience cleared

I've got the same number
as the local hospital
You woke me from my slumber
I'm not who you meant to call.

by Ryan LaFave & Derek Pearson

Dear Mary I shiver in the cold
Like a bow I quiver from an arrow
I'm fed like a sparrow
These crumbs on the ground
a meal to the nowhere bound like me

I have begged for silver from strangers
I have washed car windshields for a dollar
Sometimes I am smaller than dirt on the floor
a bed for the worn out poor

I don't deserve charity
l don't deserve your mercy
I don't know where to begin
with all that I've sinned
Dear Mary, will l find peace?

Now I write this letter to the saints
Please forgive my grammar and my spelling
There's more for the telling but no room for words
Will you save a fallen bird, like me?

by Jillian Leigh

After you leave for clock-in time
then I creep out from where I hide
and breakfast with your child bride
While you're working I sit by
your little infant daughter's side
and checkmate with your child bride

I like the look of your walls
in the morning, in the hall
between your kitchen and bedroom
And I do almost all of my working at night
so in the broad daylight
I find myself in your bedroom
photographing your wife

I print my photographs at night
Look over them and narratize
my mornings with your child bride
At four or five I say goodbye
I'm gone before you rearrive
to take your place atop, beside
your lovely, lonely child bride

I like the feel of your pillow
I am so for real, yo!
It's the way that I like mine
and I do almost all of my working at night
so in the broad daylight
I find myself in your bedroom
photographs of your wife

by Zachary Gresham

Heard myself crying aloud
My body cast off the port bow
I'm found drifting down
hands and feet tangled and bound

Drifting toward what looked to be the creature
I was taken back by its cast iron features
Unsure how this strange machine could float
Something out of a book, like a submerging boat
Soon confronted by captain and his crew
I quickly understood my stay here would soon be through
The captain said "Goodbye Professor Aronnax!
The sea has brought you here, the sea shall have you back!"

The ships hull suddenly gave way
In the impact sparks sprayed
Our captain, in its wake
cried out  “That creature's a fake!"
“Dear God!” The sailors, they prayed
"Save us from an early grave, an early grave!"
Against it for goodness sake!
We continue to splinter and quake

Yesterday's threat of being left at sea
was Captain Nemo's way of testing me
These actions are not of a civilized man
but he never set out to be, that was never his plan
He barked "I have no need for propriety
I have done with society, for reasons good to me
Wars tear this world to pieces
Beneath these waves their reign ceases!
Here I watch their evil drown
and here is where my peace is found."

by Derek Pearson & Ryan LaFave