1. |
The Green Shade
03:29
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It’s actually cool in the shade
Actually almost cold in the shade
But the sun some yards away is hot
But the sun is millions of miles away
And my sweatshirt is at home
The green shade, the green green shade
The green sweatshirt, the green green shade
We hiked up a trail through the grass
Up a hill where the sun had yellowed the grass
But the woods right next to the path smelled cool
But the trees on the opposite hillside were charred from the fire
I was burning up in my black t-shirt
And my sunscreen was at home
The blonde grass, the ashen grass
The black trees and the black t-shirt
The green shade and the yellow grass
You ran waving your arms in the air
As you flew down the trail high up in the air, up on the hill
Above the bay, up in the blue sky
Above the clouds that came in waves from over the sea
Cold waves of clouds broke over the hills across the bay and covered the bridge
But we were safe on the hot yellow hill
Looking out onto our home
The blue air, the blue blue air
The white clouds and the blue bay and
The red bridge and your blue t-shirt
The orange poppies, the golden hills
The green shade and the blue blue air
I moved away from my home by the sea
I actually left my home by the sea
But I left my heart so I'd have to return
But my home has changed
The hills and buildings shift and burn
Now my house is thousands of miles away
In a city where nights are brighter than day
And I look out my window to the west, out at the pale sky
And after dark I close the green shade
But the sun’s still high over the golden hills
And I want to go back home
The gray sea, the gray gray sea
The gray rocks and the gray fog and the gray sagebrush, the gray gulls
Or the gray city, the gray bridges. the white lights and the white snowflakes,
The sparkling streets and the bright windows, the gray dawn
Or the golden sunset, the gray sea and the green, green shade
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2. |
The Tide
02:28
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The tide is rising and the moon is high and still rising on the bounding main
We're waiting for the big wave that’s capsizing o’er the uprooted plain
The next thing I see is a wave goes by
The wave that goes by is a mighty fine train
The wave that I see is the train to ride
The sails are filling and the wind is up and still changing, sea to rising sea
We’re watching while the waves keep rearranging the shapes of history
The flags are flying and the mood is high
The tide is turning toward the ground that’s still dry
We’re wading through the marsh of time
We’re waiting for the waving flags to touch ground and burn white
We're waiting for the half acid reigns on this parade to snap tight
The next thing I see is a wave goes by
The wave that goes by is a mighty fine train
The wave that I see is the train to ride
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3. |
Glue
01:08
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Molecular glue sticks me to you
Molecular glee in those spiral eyes
Gives you that double trouble helix hex, baby
Gives you that coil no rubber erases
That baby bump grind in the night
That squiggle carries on the line
That bends or breaks
That 3-D curve
That offspring throw
That wrapped-round thumb
That right-hand screw
That slinky walk
That winding stare
Those spiral eyes
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4. |
Yore
03:36
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Nestling in the rushes-o
The sepia-twinged famine of old, of yore
Hooks its horns into the warp
Unravels and knits the simultaneously ebbing flowing shroud
It is written in visible stone
It is ruled with crooked staff
Serpent struck
Beaten into pulp and pew
The stench of marsh
Mangroves, papyrus
The snake or the mongoose
The seven lean dancers
A sphynx-aided question
Sunken shaft to antechamber
Dive dive dive
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5. |
Rendering
01:14
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Molecular glue sticks me to you
Molecular rendering of hearts into stones
Give animal magnets
Give mineral best friends
Biological hostess to pasture her guest sends
The starshine dissolves into meteor showers
The milky way
The spiral arm
The wing-footed messenger brings to her flowers
The ruby lips
The diamond drill
The silver vein
The iron will
The blue blood stock
The ionic bond
The column fallen in the pond
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6. |
Yin/Yang
01:30
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Lack of thunder means no lightning
Sleep all day in the hot sun
Lack of wonder means no frightening
Sleep all night with the lights on
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7. |
Velcro
01:11
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Molecular glue sticks me to you
Molecular Velcro, quel cro-magnon stands
So savoir faire, in neanderthal valley?
Adonis dons hardhats
Dons helmets
Dun Juan
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8. |
Jerks
00:59
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There's some jerks in the park
Playing jujitsu basketball
Yelling all night long
There’s some guys in the highrises
Tickertaping skyscrapers
Yelling all day long
All those people blowing their horns
Aren't really getting anywhere
And the walls come down
While they're caught in the traffic
Of their own slavery
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9. |
Cupids
00:46
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Molecular glue sticks me to you
Molecular cupids shoot particle cannon
And randomly firing with two cleft hooves
Will miss or hit the cleaving part
The sting and stick of poison darn
The snake bite kit
The suck and spit
The tourniquet
The bleeding heart
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10. |
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Three haiku versus
The pet gila monster fight
All day in the hot
Sun
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11. |
Monsters
00:52
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Monsters and bugs and viruses and tyrants
All taking over the world together
Or taking the world apart
The sins of the fathers visit the son of a gun
And stay awhile to chat
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12. |
A Burst
01:53
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A burst of radiation
Ten thousand strong
Erases this song
The song bursts
Detonates
Vapor trails
Out to space
Where is it
What happens
To a sang
When it‘s gone
Does it go
Forever
On and on
No ending
Beginning
To get it
Is that how
The song goes?
A burst of radiation
Ten thousand strong
Erases this song
A burst of radiation
A zillion years long
Folks singin’ a song
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13. |
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Winter was a-comin' down
Everybody went nuts
Nobody saved nuts
Everybody went cuckoo
Everybody sang cuckoo
Everybody drank, got frank
Nonsenss and merry made
Full of grapes
Spiked yet so mild
Everybody sang and never brought to mind
Forgot to remember their history
Or was it biology?
Begat me, begat me not
And they forgot thee,
Old ruse again
And their tongues clove
And their cinnamon stuck
And they sat down by the whore of Babylon
And they cried
Woe woe woe
Whoa yeah
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14. |
Grapes
01:49
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The grapes of sloth
Between my toes
And in my eyes the sun
Is blotting out and blotting in
The grapes are turning sour
My shoes are slipping
Walking a long distance between two pints
The god of rotting fruit
Was struck by disrepute
Electric bolt, chemical jolt
And now lies mouldering
Beneath the grass
Beneath the hanging bats
Beneath the laboratory men‘s
Lucid slivery doom
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15. |
The Past
01:57
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Saying hello to tomorrow
Waving goodbye to bygone days
Sprocket holes tearing and blurring
Silvery night forming fumes
In a slow motion explosion
The past happens so fast
It’s so far gone
It’s out of time
It’s out of range
It’s out of focus
Skirting around hazy memory
Shifting around in a darkened room
Panting and sweating and listening
Silvery night forming scenes
Filmy layers of ancient pollen
Filmy layers of past panoramas
Dissolving serious stars of the silvery night
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16. |
Angelfish
01:29
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Angelfish
All they ever do is die
Goldfish are toughest
The robustest of little fish
Goldfish
Circle the bowl
They swim downstream
Past the anchovy factory
Past the hatchery
Out to sea
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17. |
At the Bottom
00:35
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At the bottom, on the ocean floor
All the water presses down
The dead
The silt
The sediment
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18. |
Where are Those Waves
01:32
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Where are those waves coming from?
Are they coming from the Southland?
Are they coming from the sun?
Are they coming from the radio?
Where are those waves coming from?
Are they coming from the handkerchiefs on shore?
Are they coming from on board?
Where are those waves coming from?
Are they coming from the slipping of the plates?
Are they gonna get us?
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19. |
At the Top
01:07
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We like to park
Our car on top of boats
And go across the channel
On the ocean, at the top
On the ocean, at the very top
Legs churn
Water buoys up
Solid water piled on top
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20. |
Bends
00:37
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21. |
Twin Lakes
01:29
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Thinking is the thinking man’s sport
Shooting is the hunter's
Snowshoes for both are loaned at the lodge
Over by Twin Lakes
Twice as deep as usual
Siamese twin lakes joined at the surface
Siamese twin lakes frozen together
Twice as dark
Twice as cold
Twice as deep to drown in
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22. |
Poetry
01:25
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Poetry
Adventure
Tea
Aeroplanes
Tungsten
Chats
Immigrants
Truncheon
Gambit
Yachts
Grace
Oaths, sworn or promised
Sloth
The Cloth
Are those oxen real
Or are they just constellations?
Our dead
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23. |
The Bridge
01:14
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The bridge that begins with a “B”
And ends with the bends
And breaks in the quake
And sways in the wind
Stops halfway to shore
That frozen land bridge melts before
They're all down or they're falling
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24. |
Thinking Feeling
01:32
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It's that thinking feeling again
That makes your hair rise up to the surface
It's that thinking feeling again
Floating up to the surface
It‘s that thinking feeling
That the surface tension bursts
That the brainstorm brings
It‘s that thinking feeling again
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25. |
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(Translated with help from Hardy Mayer)
How good is the wine of Ghiurghiu!
Harvested late in the fall.
Whether there’s fog or snow
I drink a lot but I still don’t get drunk
I swore that I wouldn’t drink anymore
But I just can’t help it
How good is the wine – I like it so well
I don’t know what to do
How good is the wine, and tasty
When you drink it with a handsome man
But the very same wine sticks in your throat
When you drink it with an ugly man
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Elma Mayer Los Angeles, California
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