1997 Story With a Hook

We drove the coast like we owned the night

Pageant crown catching dashboard light

Laughter cracked when the tires screamed

Now every shoreline feels like a bad dream

Salt on our lips, mud on our knees

Four closed mouths in a July breeze

We tied our futures to a sinking stone

Then spent all year learning how guilt grows

Read it once, read it twice

Paper cuts cold as ice

Last summer won’t stay dead

It comes back soaked in red

With a hook for the guilty

And a letter filled with dread

Last summer won’t stay dead

It keeps washing back ashore

We threw it in the water

Now it’s knocking at the door

Wet boots creak through the market light

A dark slicker cuts the Fourth of July

The parade keeps waving like it doesn’t know

There’s a hook in the rain where the bright streets go

Hair on the pillow, salt on the sheets

Dead phones ringing with the tide’s heartbeat

Every friend is a suspect, every mirror keeps score

Every road out of town leads back to that shore

No sleep, don’t deny

Find the killer or we die

Last summer won’t stay dead

It comes back soaked in red

With a hook for the guilty

And a letter filled with dread

Last summer won’t stay dead

It keeps washing back ashore

We threw it in the water

Now it’s knocking at the door

We sealed the oath and called it done

We thought the water agreed

But some secrets won’t stay dead

And now it’s time to bleed

READ IT OUT

I know what you did

SAY IT LOUD

Remember what you hid

Last summer won’t stay dead

It comes back soaked in red

With a hook for the guilty

And a letter filled with dread

Last summer won’t stay dead

It keeps washing back ashore

We threw it in the water

Now it’s knocking at the door

Steam on the glass

A sentence almost clear

The shower light flickers

And the hook is still here