The Thing About Things

(album: There Will Be No Intermission - 2019)

I've loaned a lot of things to a lot of friends
Like records and dresses and books
And a lot of the time I never see them again
And in a weird way I think that that works

Because the thing about things is they start turn evil
When you start to forget what they're for
And so if you're not sure what you did with my sweater
I'll just have to love you a little bit more

I had a ring it belonged to my grandfather
He was a mason and gay
And he was distant and bitter for all of my childhood
We never had much to say

He wasn't the type to give tokens of affection
So I stole ring when he died
And then twenty years on when I lost it at a bar
I thought that's fine
I don't want him in my life

Because the thing about things is that they can start meaning things
Nobody actually said
And if he couldn't make something mean something for me
I had to make up what it meant

I can carry everything I need in one collapsing suitcase
I can carry everyone I love in one phone application
Built to maximize the facetime of the friends I'm bent on making
Actually I want to be alone
To mourn the loss
Of what it cost

I think it's a poem and I think it keeps going
And I've borrowed and loaned lots of things
And 3 nights ago in the bar where I lost it the bartender gave me the ring

I lie in bed
With my phone in my hand
Thinking what can I fix with which app

And I call my grandfather
And he doesn't answer
And I have to make peace with that fact

Because the thing about things
Is that they can start meaning things nobody actually said
And if you're not allowed to love people alive
Then you learn how to love people dead

The thing about things is that they can start meaning things nobody actually said

And if you're not allowed
To love people alive
Then you learn how to love people dead