1. |
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When the wind yawns, trash and dirt grumble in the tangled bank
Buses drift forward and a stomach tanks
Horse hooves on top of manholes
Birds dream on telephone poles
Dragonflies cough and spin and sputter through the air
When the leaf falls, it lights on the water to the naval yard
Under a stone bridge with a ceiling charred
Planes painting clouds in the air
Moons and stars sit on the stairs
Tossing their coins and wishes into the sky so blue
Wake, worried sleeper, wake
Your soured dreams it’s time to shake
Window panes shatter by the sun's gentle morning
Buildings sway as grasses in the breeze
Wake, no more old heartache
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2. |
Arbor
02:50
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The smoothness of my palms is no match
for the the things your skin has seen...
How many baby-strollers?
winters, joggers?
foxes, poodles make their mark?
Loves declared, loves despaired?
How many pocketknives
work their way
across your countenance?
How much fickleness of wind?
How much moodiness of sun?
How many soft-footed moons have rubbed their light on your chapped skin?
How many six-legged things and green-feathered wings?
Or large-headed kids that touch you in their dreams?
For shelter from the light, the shadows to you cling
You, with your thousand arms skyward
stand.
You, with your thousand arms skyward
stand.
You, after having done all
stand.
You, in such silent adoration
stand.
You, with your thousand arms skyward
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3. |
Incredible People
04:06
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You say to me that I am incredible.
My sweet honeybee, this flatt'ry's inedible.
'Cause that's why you love me and
That's why you want to be with me.
I play the right notes,
I smile a just-so
I cut a fine figure or dance on the hedge-row,
My words aptly smart?
My freshly flossed chops?
My rhythm's like rivers, I pull out the stops.
You say to me, that I am so beautiful.
By this lead decree, a wild bird's made dutiful.
Is that why you love me?
Is that why you want to be with me?
You polish my mirror,
The crowd is engaged.
You set me a'-sailing on top of the big stage.
But a wall of wave makes your confidence cave,
A whale named Grace has just swallowed my face.
Will you still love me when I'm no longer incredible?
Will you still want to be with me when I'm no longer so beautiful?
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4. |
Honeychild
05:11
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When train-cars of air rattle and shake
Down tracks of branch that bear the weight
With weary protest and groaning wood-limbs bent
When engines thunder, when courage is all spent
Don’t cry, honeychild
Don’t cry, honeychild
The wind’s just yawning
Tomorrow is still dawning
and it won’t be long before the draft is down and dreaming
When at last there’s no more light to oppose
The shadows that hide behind doors, books, and clothes
Their quiet leap forward and dances so slow,
The flips and the skips, the bad dreams all in tow
Shadows will play
Still light they must obey
and it won’t be long before the dark is down and dreaming
Don’t cry, honeychild
Don’t cry, honeychild
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5. |
Smoke Signals
03:45
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Miles, miles from here
I see you sitting on your doorstep
will you turn and see me waving from my rooftop?
Black smoke, white smoke,
carry my love...
Fire-yolk, bellow's stoke,
carry my love...
Cloud of oil, mantle of dust,
Furling cloth and faithful gust, let my love know that I am here.
Inches, inches away
I hear you dreaming of a clearing
will you breathe relief in the breeze?
Ten feet, ten feet from here
I feel you moving on the treadles
is the blanket that you weave meant for us alone to share?
Black smoke, white smoke,
carry my love...
Fire-yolk, bellow's stoke,
carry my love...
Cloud of oil, mantle of dust,
Furling cloth and faithful gust, let my love know that I am here.
Miles, miles from here you see me sitting on my doorstep will I turn and see you waving from your rooftop?
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6. |
Interstitials
05:08
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The space between two grains of sand,
the space between the fingers on my hand,
the blade and the ice,
the drunk and his vice,
the 'if' and the 'then',
the nine and the ten,
You're the space between.
The space between the fish and the water,
the space between the ink and the blotter,
the sound and the ear,
the thrill and the fear,
the spoon and the batter,
the rock and the shatter,
You're the space between.
The space between the wings of a moth,
the space between the threads of a cloth,
the swatter and the fly,
the lid and the eye,
idea and the action,
the friction and the traction,
the open and the shut,
the shell and the nut,
the mouth and the word,
what makes sense, what's absurd,
right -on-time and just-too-late,
a choice and one's fate,
You're the space between.
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7. |
Well
04:05
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Litter lifted through
town and river, desert and glen
Bears my sea-sick soul,
time is waning for wounds to mend,
to round the bend...
Shipmen raise the sails
Stale starlight offers a course
See the moon beneath lapping waves that hide its remorse,
the wind has gone hoarse.
Take me down,
down, oh the light is leaking from this room
While the stones rise to the sky
the walls are getting taller.
Needles swing through holes
born by, crushed by fingers and thread.
Stretched from end to end,
hands are fisted, new twine is spread,
strands newly wed...
Take me down,
down, oh the light is leaking from this room
While the stones rise to the sky
the walls are getting taller.
Is this rope strong enough to hold my frame?
With the weight of secrets claimed?
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8. |
Away My Sin
03:45
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9. |
Press
03:58
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Paper
Flower
Paper
Weight
Five strong men strong stock
Pad lock pressure cook
Closed book
All is still till the ground is tilled and
The story takes its windy root
Battles waged along stem and petal
Damsels saved on fragile nettles
You are
Pressed in, pressed out, pressed up, press down
Paper flower, do you lean towards the sun in that world too?
Tiny planets tiny moons
Bull whippoorwill wind
Thick-skinned nonstop
Flip-flop
All’s a’flutter as a whisper’s uttered and
The atoms take their windy route
Sound and heat pass from one to the other like
Beauty transferred to daughter from mother
You are
Pressed in, pressed out, pressed up, pressed down
Your eye has grown cloudy, her vision now clearer
Your gray hair discovers her fair head’s sun nearer
The scars on your hips made the newborn’s sweet yawn
Your life is erased, her full breath is drawn
You place your grace with care into the tree
And the glory takes its windy route
Pressed in (good measure)
Pressed out (shaken)
Pressed up (running over)
Pressed down (poured into you)
It was morning in heaven and we all knew where we were.
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