I have often flown interstate for work. Many times, particularly at night, I've seen the networks of roads below me and noticed their similarity to patterns of blood vessels, arteries, veins. Close up on the ground its very easy to recognize the man made and distinguish it from nature, but the further you step back I think even man made begins to take on organic qualities. Like bacteria, viruses or plants, our cities have grown and evolved. They come from us and, in that sense, they could be seen as natural too.
These thoughts inspired the words for Neon Veins, a song from my album A Gorgeous Plan.
Reflection in window
And shadow in alley
A signpost in silver
A red light and white line
Angles unnatural
Tangents unlikely
Growth incremental
Transecting the city
The manmade organic
Arterial construction
Bacterial infection
The viral expansion
A cancer in concrete
Structures skeletal
Asphalt like tissue
Regeneration
Of cellular matter
The manmade organic
New evolution
Building on building
Path to lane to road to highway
The surface view
Seems artificial
But stepping from micro
Out to the macro
Looking down on the neon veins
I see organism
In city living
Movement in random
Decision to be here
Junction connections
Firing like neurons
Headlights in transit
Flowing like plasma
The manmade organic
New evolution
Building on DNA
New evolution
Building on building
Path to lane to road to highway
The surface view
Seems artificial
But stepping from micro
Out to the macro
Looking down on the neon veins
I see organism
In city living
