1. |
My Buddy
03:56
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my buddy, out on the train tracks
he is a friend somehow
I don't know how
we used to spend
(we used to spend) our time together
that is a reason to be friends
we used to spend our time together
the women of the street bring their carts to the center of town
the clatter, the mouth
the bark of an old market
bare fruit
my friend he strolls about for the ripest one
the taste on his tongue
all the pleasures of the earth
stop and ask him what he wants
he can't tell you, but
he can hold you like a scale
the station is an empty hall is an empty ride
I call it mine
the nose remembers
the smell of old graffiti
the end of conversations
the waiting in silence
and my buddy, out on the train tracks
he is smiling back
through the window of an old passing subway car
I beckon him and he tips his brow
as if to say somehow he remembers too
stop and ask him what he wants
he can't tell you, but
he can hold you like a scale
we are laughing upset
we are moving the halls with colorful figures
and stray dogs
and movie light flickers
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2. |
Kid
03:52
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look at us in the morning too tired to get a shirt on too tired to get a riase
listen up car, start, get ready to go
put me on your shoulder take me where you want
like oh my god i'm here i'm not
we used to build cities out of old plastic blocks
and at the end of the day
we'd tear them down for fun
now we got to build a solid structure to stand on
now we got a second set of teeth to take care of
and i am your second skin
i'm here to take from you your thoughts
i am the strapping young son in the second grade
teachers think i'm quiet cause do everything they say
they talk i play with puppets by myself in my back yard
while the other kids tramp through the woods
toy guns around their arms
you ask yourself you ask yourself i know you come up dry
i still wakes you up at three AM for no reason
i am your second skin
i'm here to take from you your thoughts
look, stop, take a breath
my mother says
don't forget to turn the light off when you leave a room son
but no I'm not done yet, there's wet paint upon my hands
an I shall never finish up
i am your second skin
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3. |
The Observer
05:09
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The Observer –by Adrienne Rich
https://educationliberation.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/the-observer-adrienne-rich/
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4. |
Avignon
03:08
|
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oh it was a distance
from my house to your front door
but i walked every evening
and i met you where you were
and now we take a tally
of everything we see
i add it up for you
and you add it up for me
there is a room, a new seat at the table
it's ours to fill it up to fill it up
i wish that they were here to see us now
this weight is round
and loaded with hard thought
this weight is on my chest
and i know just what i've got
there is a room, a new seat at the table
it's ours to fill it up to fill it up
i wish that they were here to see us now
they would barely recognize us
on the front porch of avignon
and if this bed should be unmade
and the dishes off the shelf
there have been many others much older than ourselves
|
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5. |
Pues
02:37
|
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6. |
Day Glo
03:27
|
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day glow, chrome windows
shapes in the clouds
hungry fish for miles around
upstream jumping out of the water
gills in the air
I've got many people to thank
but I can't write letters
I can't write letters
my friends on the edge of the old grave yard
they sit on the old grey porch
and watch foxes play
a jug of wine
the kind of wine that you don't mind spilling
that you don't mind spilling
well, I fill out the forms and I make my death come slowly
one at a time, some kind of record unrolling
best begin sometime, she said
but can't start until you're ready
yet
I seem to be controlled,
somehow pulled
by fingernails and eyelashes
and other insentient parts
we talk about dreams a lot
she reads her fortunes out loud
I think it's funny and I go stay with her
I go stay with her
and I don't mind dying
when I make love to her
under a wall of sound
a riverbed of clay
the distance between us stays
close but not close
far but not too far away
close but not close
far but not too far away
|
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7. |
Tell
03:17
|
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there is no word yet
just dogs barking at the sirens
their cold noses and the spring vines
growing green, growing distant in the sunlight
passing mistakes and neighbors' yards
I drop a lit cigarette on the ground
backtracking, curious
down the old road, tell me that you wanna go
tell me that you wanna go
there is no word yet
just a pause in the center target
eating pizza on the city street
keeping up with the high risers
the wind blows up a spray
dead grass and trash moves underneath our knees
we get lost, we have to stay
on the old road, tell me that you wanna go
tell me that you wanna go
there is a pot on the top shelf
the little flowers in the basket they all fall down
they seep onto the bedroom floor
green vines start creeping up your bedroom door
I bring chocolates and iced tea
a radio, blankets for sleeping
we trim them and we watch them grow
down the old road, tell me that you wanna go
tell me that you wanna go
|
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8. |
Downtown Boys
04:01
|
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This is some kind of a vacation
we behave nicely
and sit together like alligators on the beach
like alligators lay on each other
but it means nothing. like that
and there's a commotion in our lungs
arriving sometime
but we don't have the schedule
I think I will arrive when it does
the downtown boys have gone
the streets are quiet, at night
no more yelling in the parking garages
or revving up old classics
no no no more of that
I ate my first meal this morning
it woke me up
I had been sleeping for days
carried away under the canopy shade
I grabbed my sunglasses and my felt hat
and rose seven stories
and I rolled my cufflinks back
the downtown boys have gone
the streets are quiet, at night
no more yelling in the parking garages
or revving up old classics
no no no more of that
|
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9. |
We Understand Each Other
05:25
|
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all the plants are growing in much faster than last year
with our windblown faces
tan cow hides
discarded laws by our side
we wander on the river
the seeds stick to our jeans
we point to objects
we give them names
we understand each other
we understand each other
we understand
our brains are small and brittle
like wild animals
we save each other food
today we will see god
standing at a booth
leaving money for a tip
our eyes have adjusted
we're just as careless now
but we notice what we can
we understand each other
we understand each other
we understand
this is our test
the palm trees
the white cement
the traffic at the school
airliners fly over
we are at a meeting
dressed in pink t-shirts
I ask you why we came here
you look at me, quiet
and put a finger on my forehead
we understand each other
we understand each other
we understand
|
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10. |
For So Long Now
05:22
|
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for so long now I've been eating from your mouth that my insides are sore and stuffed
for so long now god i know i don't know
i listen i leave, i break like the twigs on a tree
i know but i don't know
you make me so sure like nothing matters
you make me so sure
we're dwarfs, tables crush us under this blanket in the storm
it's warm and the tin roof above us fills with summer hail
the jungle all covered in ice our words are there too
they dangle above us, like dusty chandeliers in a colonial house
there must not be too many hours left here for us now
midnight arrives and we remember the day we met
riding the steamer away from port
passing mines and bear back workers on the shore
every night we return to walk the black tunnel
and pick diamonds from the wall
sabatoge and since then every moment with you i claw
this world has been a dream
like gently running fingernails along our front porch screen
what have we done but live here naturally
our fortunes are made
tomorrow we carry them home
across that great blue body with fingers tied
in knots and bows and little monsters in our throats
we take them home
for so long now
i know i don't know
|
Brazos Brooklyn, New York
Grab Hold of What Floats - 2022
Saltwater - 2013
Phosphorescent Blues - 2010
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