It Sounds Weird When You Say It Out Loud

He always smelled like cigarettes
He dressed like a cowboy
Even though he lived in the city
Since he was three

He liked to use big college words and
Intentionally mispronounce them
Thinking it would prove to the ladies
That he could read

He was secretly certain
That hell is at the bottom of the ocean
Thousand of pounds per square inch
Of cold crushing doom

Populated by creatures
Drawn from vestigean nightmares
He'd had this horrible poster of them
In his room growing up

Said maybe that's why I'm so screwed up
My first memory
Is the fear of fish in the sea

He always bought his cigarettes
From a girl who knew no English
Hoping that every time that he went
He'd get to hear her speak

A strange collection of noises
Communicating nothing
She seemed to have all new words
Every week

He was secretly certain
That waking life is an empty phenomenon
And there's something more going on
Than it seems

He was simultaneously someone else
In an alternate universe
He lived the life of a housewife
In his dreams
Every night

He'd say I don't understand
But that's alright
I'm pretty sure it all makes sense somehow
It just sounds weird when you say it out loud