1. |
I Own A Crown
02:55
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The crown of spring falls on a sullen brow
The seer in the mirror spits forbidden hymns against a tree
with his heavy hand bends the scale
Whatever has betrayed him is unspoken and invisible to him
Growth is meaningless
All the lists and three part plans
Leave the best with empty hands
Contracts are a sale
when I die people will be thinking to themselves, "what do I get?"
"What is mine? I've given you some love, is that not worth a dime?"
Or worth a damn
What a scam
I know the script so well because I thought it to myself
Posture keeps the others tucked away
In the Ivy Castle sits a young old man, a fake
Peculiar, is the mind.
It dances at the site of heaven just above the space kept locked away
Of course, of course
Branches bend and dance against a vintage window pane
The lighting is just superb
It's never as exciting as sitting silently alone with you
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark
Hold the light a little closer
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2. |
The Door Is Open
02:13
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Returned to the forest
Ceiling caved in
Cabin eaves heavy
Every breath of wind
Doors swing open
Doors swing open
This room is nothing now
All splinters, bent nails
Dented kettle and no old friends
The door is open
The door is open
The cat's path around the mountain
Leaves no room for doubt
Each and every paw mark
Will melt when the sun’s out
Every breath of wind
Will slush and sway
Bring me pollen
And say
The door is open
The door is open
The door is open
Its mouth like a cavern
Built for receiving
Breathe it in
Breathe it in
Breathe it in
Breathe it in
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3. |
You'll See Colors
02:22
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You’ll see colors
You’ll see yellows and greens
The aperture closes, but you will not take it with grace.
The blackness will snap you with its mouth.
I’m no longer afraid of the light in my face.
of the light in my face.
I spent years trying to remember what it said about kindness.
You’ll spend hours
Punching air in a roomful of ghosts.
The door slams closed.
The door slams closed.
But you will not take it with clenched teeth.
You’ll wake up, roll over with ten deep breaths.
You’ll leave it in the bed with your lover.
You’ll have to hang it over him.
And your lungs,
They’ll be crushed,
Under the weight of all the water, rushing down, on your tongue,
As you’re trying to remember
all those faces,
all those friends
who held your hand,
who held your hand
All those warm dry moments
you have spent,
you have spent.
And you’ll watch as the sun slides down across a pond, somewhere,
Alone in your heart with the world’s sound
raining down on you.
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4. |
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Let the party rage around you, lay you dying
Each pinprick of sunlight coming in is another line
Each bit of carpet twirling your frozen fingers through another fun time
Let that air cold inside you, bare fingers clasped round the box you hold
Intention in breath
and a few good dents,
well-loved moments, kept secrets, direct vents
The world swirls around you, back to the wall
A rock in the sun or a pebble in the hole
Eyes out on you water lapping glass soul, let your dress fall, let your dress fall
And the smoke curls at you like dirty river current, and they’re calling your name
You and the wall you show are not the same,
stand up to share, then shrink away
Stand up to show you’re strong, then shrink away,
cigarette smoke a prayer climbing up to a fat moon, the biggest in decades,
watching your fire burn bright hot and then blue and strange
And the whisper of the wide woods mouths your name
And the bark and the leaves and the mold echo the whisper back to a street in the rain
You’re drawn to each branch and each stone and each quiet patch of quiet shade
Climbing, now, reaching always
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5. |
Tie A Rope
03:08
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Tell me
When this joy merges into pain.
Tell me
How many times a day.
If there’s a brick in you there’s a brick in me.
Our lines connect and stay buzzing.
Oh, how my wrists are cracking and strained.
I’ll hold this hard in my heart to go back to someday.
You have to take a picture.
You have to put your whole arm down the hole of memory.
be ready to lose something, unafraid.
The world will take from me again.
And I won’t be ready,
it’ll pin me to a flat line plane.
But my arms are deep in the gods of living and life.
I am drinking from the fountain until I wash myself down the drain.
I hope you can manage to tie a rope round my waist to your waist.
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6. |
Animals Brushing Around
03:01
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The harsh light of morning isn’t anything to live for
When the dark night tromps down,
The harsh light of morning isn’t anything to wait for
Its outlines too sharp, its glare too loud
The stabbing sun comes down for you even if it’s cold out
Wait for the golden hour and tuck into the dusk,
Animals brushing around
Wait for soft light on your lover’s face like a halo
Take her hand and walk down.
Take her hand and wait for the line of the water to blur and black out.
Take her hand and wait for her face to float back in the blue-dark now
Two shadows, animals brushing around
Two cones of warmth in the new night, the warm, wet dusk
A day that has settled, been written, espoused
Don’t wait for the harsh light
Don’t wait for the morning
Grip the night, grip the dusk, shoulders rustling
Animals brushing around.
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7. |
You Named Her
02:12
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You named her ____.
You named her for a flower that unfurls.
You put her together before you even knew.
You wait for her.
You named her for a flower that unfurls.
You named her.
Before you even knew.
Her hands will reach around you.
You will tell everyone.
You named her. You
Hustled when you knew.
You saw the sun rise ten times in a row.
You swept the altar where she grew.
You named her for the ice and sun.
You made a drink of what she would become.
Before you even knew.
You saw her racing toward you.
You wait for her.
You will tell everyone.
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8. |
White Horse In Spring
02:16
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In another life, I was your wide-running pony.
You think I just gallop and that I don’t pray.
You think that all living goes just one direction
The wreath round my neck never gets in the way.
Make me know the cold air is coming.
Make me lope in the darkness with snow on my face.
Make me believe that I have no master.
So I’ll never seek one.
I saw the bridge, but I went in the water.
I wanted it harder, I wanted the way
The rainy river keeps pushing against me
Crumbles the wreath and spreads seeds with thickening pace.
I am ready. The real cold is coming.
Let me open my mouth and sing with the breeze.
Count crows and directions and wait for an answer
Crumble the living for dead leaves.
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9. |
Grail Of Grain
02:49
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You sweet baby.
You have always looked the same.
Every single day in your life
Echoes the same way.
You angel of basements.
You grail full of grain.
Every single moment you live
Gets logged into your mainframe.
And the trauma in your muscles
Keeps you flinching, keeps you safe.
The suspicious always watching
Makes you a soldier
In their shifting gaze.
You thin cherub.
You have always been the same.
Perched atop a fountain,
Collecting coins, but not to save.
You spirit of sun rays.
You writer down of names.
Every window in your mind
Will keep you wild, keep you stray.
And the opening of your arms
Makes the shy into the brave,
And the wandering in your heart
Keeps your closeness managed, far away.
...
You wide window
You have always been the same
Sitting pretty all alone
Adjusting light and sun and rain
You concrete chasm
You classic refrain
...
And the echo down the street
Is nothing you would change
And the light on the leaves
Is nothing you would change
And the echo down the street
Is nothing you would change
And the light on the leaves
Is nothing you would change
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10. |
Ox Blood
02:53
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Don’t you want to taste what rocks you can crush
Don’t you want to run with a little ox blood
Don’t you want to eat honey
Don’t you want to taste mud
Don’t you want to take away your name
You get that spirit in you and you run
You see sticks and stones shine in the warm marching sun
You think with your nose and the tip of your tongue
And don’t you want to hold
The warm body and blood
Don’t you want to take away your name
Don’t you want to take away your name
Don’t you hear it hard enough
And don’t you want to wait
For an arrow in the ground
To pierce your little fingers when you dig it out
And don’t you want to wait
For the wild call to come
It comes from the cold hard ground
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11. |
I Know You Will Meet Me
04:04
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Only the cat hears the radio at night. Its fuzzy notes and smoky frequency
Stay low. Low key.
All of the settled dust and ashes vibrate just so lightly. Make me
A picture of the night inside my living room, all greenish grays.
Make me feel like waiting. Keep me in a dream.
I had a dream of you the same night you had a dream of me.
While I was sleeping our minds found each other in the blurry room.
Later we’ll sit under the moon and sing, and they’ll watch on the edge of the street.
Make me feel like waiting. Keep me in a dream.
But not drifting.
The cat has given up waiting for movement in the night.
The radio fills him up with space. He is silent, ready to sleep.
I am locked in a room in my mind with no key.
Meet me. I know you will meet me. I put out the dish and wait.
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