Imperfectly

i'm okay
if you get me at a good angle
and you're okay
in the right sort of light
and we don't look
like pages from a magazine
but that's all right
that's all right

i crashed your pickup truck
and then i had to drive it back home
i was crying
i was so scared
of what you would do
of what you would say
but you just started laughing
so i started laughing along
saying, it looks a little rough
but it runs okay
it looks a little rough
but it runs good anyway

we get a little further from perfection
each year on the road
i guess that's what they call character
i guess that's just the way it goes
better to be dusty than polished
like some store window mannequin
why don't you touch me where i'm rusty
let me stain your hands

when you're pretty as a picture
they pound down your door
but i've been offered love
in two dimensions before
and i know that it's not all
it's made out to be
let's show them how it's done
let's do it all imperfectly

Fixing her hair

she's looking in the mirror
she's fixing her hair
and i touch my head to feelwhat isn't there
she's humming a melody
we learned in grade school
she's so happyand i think
this is not cool
'cause i know the guy
she's been talking about
i have met him before
and i think what is this beautiful beautiful woman settling for?

she bends her breath
when she talks to him
i can see her features begin to blur
as she pours herself into the mold he made for her
and for everything he does
she has a way to rationalize
she says he don't mean what he do
she tells me he called to apologize

he says he loves her
he says he's changing and he can keep her warm
and so she sits there like america
suffering through slow reform
but she'll never get back the time
and the years sneak by one by one
she is still playing the martyr
i am still praying for revolution

and she still doesn't have what she deserves
but she wakes up smiling every day
she never really expected more
that's just not the way we are raised
and i say to her, you know, there's plenty of really great men out there
but she doesn't hear me
she's looking in the mirror
she's fixing her hair

// posted by diana at 9:52 PM :: 3 comments