Song Lyrics: Drifter

Still
Adrift
So long
Becalmed by a calamity
That grabs attention
Like the worst kind of celebrity

A tern
(A bird)
Astern
Screamed past my ear and said to me
You should feel fear
When hungry sharks are drawing near

Still
Afloat
I note
In a sea of unaccounted casualties
Still breathing
Is the plus side of the balance sheet

Still
A rest
A test
We’re breaking down, the best of us
Unlock our underwater chests
Give our breathing back to us 

Song Lyrics: Dig this, Lazarus

Lazarus,
Come dazzle us
Show up in my town
We can wrestle for the crown
Of the oldest son of a bitch
Still taking steps
Above ground

I’m aged
Like bottles of bourbon
More kick but even still
Kinder in the morning

Time draws lines
Around our faces
Maybe just
To put us in our places
But I don’t have the grace
To go before I say

I’m aged
Like wheels of cheddar
Skin got tough, taste is
Sharper. Better.

I live a life
Seasoned like the sea
If it’s just
A lie that I am free
Then it’s a lie that I believe
I know what I should I say

Lazarus,
Come dazzle us,
I’ll be easy to track down.
I’ll be wearing the crown
Of the oldest son of a bitch
Still taking steps
Above ground 

Rebounding: tips on coping with depression and anxiety

In the spring of 2006, I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to hold down a full-time job again.

At the height of my earning power, I pulled down more than six digits a year, working for organizations (think marketing agencies and software development firms) that did their best to be fun, friendly places to spend time. I loved the work. In the late 1990s and the early 2000s, working with the web and social media, I felt like a modern-day pioneer, helping to open a new frontier. At Tribal DDB, the managing director finagled me a window office, complete with a breathtaking view of downtown Chicago and Michigan Ave. Clients trusted me; coworkers (almost universally creative, brilliant, charming) said kind and complimentary things that to this day make me blush.

Around 2006, though, everything fell apart. All the aspects of my work that I previously enjoyed – collaborating with others, sharing knowledge, producing great work, wowing C-suite clients with amazing presentations – became nerve-wracking drudgery. A shadow fell over my world. I felt frozen, and useless, and all I could think to do was run away from full-time work. For years, I was content to be a house husband, and lucky enough to have a spouse who gave me the time and space I needed to recover.

Finding my way back has not always been easy. First, and maybe most important, was recognizing that I needed professional help for the depression and anxiety that went untreated most of my adult life. Antidepressant medication helped. Talking with a therapist helped, too. For anyone reading who might be contemplating self-harm of any sort – anyone feeling that they just want to escape the world – I beg you, please, talk to your doctor, and be honest with her. Anti-depressant medications have side effects, and those aren’t any fun, but the meds played a significant role in helping me see the world more clearly. Yes, depressed people, it’s true: The world’s a better place with all of us in it.

Other strategies have helped me, too, and for everyone out there trying to manage perpetual gloom and tension, I wanted to share them.

+ Meditation. I can’t recommend highly enough Dan Harris’ book “Ten Percent Happier.” I wish I’d known how to meditate back when I had my glamorous window office; I might have enjoyed the view longer.

+ Mindfulness. I think there’s a time and a place for sitting in front of a TV set and watching something silly and entertaining, but I’ve also learned there’s value in trying to stay present in the moment. (My anxiety manifests most powerfully when I imagine some terrible future and start to ‘catastrophize,’ using a term from the mental health industry.) I’ve taken up playing bass guitar, and after a lifetime of ordering in or picking up fast food my spouse and I are making home-cooked meals every Sunday. Our pot roast is pretty good, but even better is the time spent together, fully engaged on what’s happening around us moment to moment.

+ Mild to moderate exercise. I’ve never been an athlete: you don’t need to be one, either. I take walks, and they’re particularly helpful when I’m feeling frustrated. I don’t think that airing frustrations in the office place – whether as gossip with a confidante or in an open confrontation – is a wise or effective tactic. Better to walk off that emotional energy and return in a more solutions- and team-oriented mindset.

+ Empathy and humility. If you’re feeling down, the notion of humility being an effective tool for feeling better might not seem logical. But my experience of depression and anxiety has been that both distort our perceptions of ourselves and others. Depression tells lies. Depression tells sufferers that they are remarkable, if only in how little value they provide to the world and their loved ones. Humility (as I understand the concept) denies that having depression makes you remarkably or exceptionally awful. Humility reminds us that we have much more in common with our fellow humans than we have differences. Empathy is another tactic that might seem odd to someone in the depths of severe depression, but I find it profoundly helpful to remind myself that the people with whom I interact are likely struggling with their own burdens. Depression tells people in its grip that everything is about you, but that’s just another lie.

It’s the spring of 2021, and I’m eager to find regular work again. It is, ironically, possibly the worst climate in my lifetime in which to find a job. The freelance clients who provided me with a steady dripline of work through the years have either lost their own jobs or seen their discretionary budgets slashed to nothing. That’s okay; I’m open to the idea that it’s time for me to leave behind the world of online marketing and user experience design and push into new realms. I’m also of the opinion that my own struggles with adversity have helped me become a better teammate, manager and employee.

I’m looking forward to practicing everything I recommend above, and if I slip up? I hope I’ll be working with a team that will hold me accountable.

Song Lyric: Wall Breaker

I’ll tell you a secret
I think you
Need to hear it

We’re on TV right now
Beaming live
Into the depths of space
The whole human race
If you catch a mic boom
Hanging over the room
Play it cool
We’re on TV right now.

I’ll tell you a secret
I think you
Need to hear it

Its supposed to appear
Like it’s only humans here
So no matter what you hear
Or if your best friend disappears
Play it cool
We’re on TV right now.

I’ll tell you a secret
I think you
Need to hear it

We’re on TV right now.
Streaming light
Into the darkest places
(The whole human race is)
If an alien voice yells ‘cut’!
Don’t ask ‘Or what’?
Play it cool
We’re on TV right now 

Song Lyric: Scarecrow Business

Out to pasture
Milk thistle seeds
Sticky in places
Stink of skunk weed

Don’t need replacing
I’m working just fine
The scarecrow business
Isn’t headed online

Up in the branches
Crow lines his nest
He eyes me sideways
Never give me no rest.

Warm summer sunshine
High wooden rack
Straw collar itchy
The wheat’s waving back

Don’t need replacing
I’m working just fine
The scarecrow business
Isn’t headed online 

Song Lyric: Hold Up

I got held up
In the parking lot

Chorus:
You already took
What little I got
To give
What little I got
To give

I got a text
Saying I’m your ex? Stop.

I’m not staking out
Your favorite spots

Hold up
You talk a lot

Bridge:
I’m free
Unencumbered by investments,
IRAs or Roth CDs.
Unlike you
I see things through
Like an ancient
Pair of shoes
With soles
Mostly made of
Holes

I’m free
Of you
I’ll keep repeating
Until I believe it
I’m free
Of you

Song Lyric: Club the Kid

I went dancing
On campus
With a
Hippopotamus
Can’t imagine what the DJ
Must have thought of us
We pretended to be famous
To impress imperfect strangers
Or maybe just for the
Drinks
The strangers bought for us

Chorus:
Get your kicks blurred
That’s what we’re here for

I went dancing
On campus
With a
Platypus
Not sure how the doorman
Hadn’t heard of us
Against my advice
We paid full cover price
But the dance floor did
Deeelight and inspire us

(Chorus)

I went dancing
On campus
With an
Anklyosaurus
The dance floor couldn’t hold
Too many more more of us
My baby moved
In a groove
Old as rocks
Worn down smooth

Song Lyric: Escape Velocity

She’s somewhere adrift
Where the darkness don’t lift
At the end of her shift

This isn’t working
This isn’t working for her
She deserves a life
Of her own

This isn’t working
This isn’t working no more
Admit you two
Are through.

She’s runnning so swift
Through puddles and mist
In a furious fit

Oh, she’s fixing to go
While dancing with you slow
Too scared to say so

She isn’t working
At the same place anymore
She blocked you online
But you’re fine
Eating alone in the dark
Is just fine 

Song Lyric: Mr. Popstar

These days
Everything you say
Seems crafted and intended
To put me on my way

(Chorus)
Oh, Mr. Pop Star,
What shall we do?
You and I, we might be through.

I liked your old stuff
The queer perspective
But then you wrecked it
With the ‘us and them’ invective

(Repeat chorus)

I only saw love
When you sang about hands in gloves
But now in hind sight
You never denied it
You think the color of our skin is
reason enough for a riot

Where do I start
Mr. Pop Star?
If fame made you who you are
Did me being a fan
Play a teensy tiny part?

(Repeat chorus)

These days
If you believe what you say
Then it’s okay, Mr. Pop Star
But I’ll be on my way
And into a better day. 

Song Lyric: Most Ghosts

Most ghosts aren’t scary
Most ghosts are cool
Most ghosts have grown up a lot
Since leaving grade school

Most ghosts at a roast
Toast each other with spirits
I hear it’s an
Existential
Out of body experience

Most ghosts aren’t spooky
Most ghosts are fun
Most ghosts know what it’s like
To always be shunned

Most ghosts are my friends
My friends all are ghosts
The ones who aren’t with me
Are the ones I hold close