1. |
A Name Like Tarantula
03:48
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A Name Like Tarantula
I heard an owl. I heard you lie.
I heard you swallow. I faked a smile.
This will not happen today.
Why do so many things
Why do so many things
Take your everything?
He could hear the hive
A million wings of worry
He could have really died
He could have really died
A cold cup by the bed
an eye of gold
an eye of lead
(Reading from Stephen Dunn’s “To a friend in love with the wrong man again”)
It was never meant to be sensible,
fully understandable. The digger wasp,
for example, goes up to the tarantula
like a friend and the tarantula freezes,
allows itself to be inspected.
Then it digs the tarantula’s grave
while the tarantula watches. You, I bet,
would have guessed with a name
like tarantula, the tarantula would’ve been
the villain. But it is we who named
the tarantula and made the digger wasp
sound honest, hard-working.
And, of course, there is no villain,
only the scheme of things, only horror,
and occasionally the strange birth
of a butterfly and its short, gorgeous,
utterly careless season.
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2. |
A Big Shindig
04:22
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A Big Shindig
Sometimes you argue with good news
Sometimes you argue with everything we do
To make you take it easy in this old place
You’ve sure spent a long time in this old place
We’re going to throw a big shindig, a yes we will
We’re going to let you sleep when you’ve had your fill
Remember when you won that foot race?
You always put other runners to shame
The day the chainsaw kissed you
The day the tractor flipped you
The chill that put you in a hospital gown
But you never seemed to stay down
And I love you all
And I want to make that clear
Don’t know about all these gifts
But I’m so glad you’re here
Rolled the hill of poison ivy
the calamine pink on your skin
told the girl you loved her
told her she was better than her friends
And news travels by cupped hands
These airplanes, they never touch land
Mechanics puzzled by the strange noise
the engine finally sputters and is gone
And I love you all
And I want to make that clear
Don’t know about all these gifts
But I’m so glad you’re here
Sometimes you argue with good news
Sometimes you argue with everything we do
To make you take it easy in this old place
You’ve sure spent a long time in this old place
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3. |
Wonder if You're...Close
04:09
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Wonder if You’re Close
I wonder if you’re anywhere
I wonder if you’re close
I took my time to prepare
I lost my hold
He was suddenly aware
Wearing running shoes
He was not in the third person
He was not you
The sun laid me out today
But I’ll be back tomorrow
The love, it was not a waste
But is it worth such sorrow
The arrowhead of birds above
The animal in your flatbed
The day your dog
Was first to your cake
The daybreak when we first knew
The sun laid me out today
But I’ll be back tomorrow
The love, it was not a waste
But is it worth such sorrow
I wonder if you’re anywhere
I wonder if you’re close
I took my time to prepare
I lost my hold
There’s no time to find our way there.
There’s no time to find our way there.
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4. |
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Mailbox planted like a flag
Talk of war sent her to bed
With painkiller blood
With salt of the ocean
In her chest
I crawled on my hands and knees
Where a window should have been
The dogs followed me from my house to yours
The stomach has a strong
grip on itself
In a jar, somebody else’s brain
Looking for the live man
Looking for the live man
Looking for the live man
There goes the showoff
Got his bicep, got his body, got his boomerang
He just saw you now
And it seemed to the boy
His life would hold this shape
The mailbox planted like a flag
in his driveway
Folded arms mean you’re done
With hearing what I might say
Fortunate it was fun
At least until it was not
Something is out in this world
It will be for you too
Something is out in this world
Or maybe it’s just in my head
The dogs followed me from my house to yours
The dogs followed me from my house to yours
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5. |
Land as Flat as Paper
04:13
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Land as Flat as Paper
Will I be alone
With matted hair
Will I take a trip
In an old chair
To the foreign country
I never left
The rain has a smell
A ferment in my chest
Engine killed off
Bugs loud, moth balls
Owners notice
My face on them
House I knew then
Stranger, dead end
What was that image
You gave me to dream
Of course it never worked
But at least I heard you sing
Diary of all creatures
who cannot talk
This land as flat as paper
These blisters, this long walk
Don’t grab my arm
This is not shared sorrow
You are on your own
Our light-hearted conversation
Turned into groans
Will I show up on some phone
Viral but never funny
Will I make a little mistake
That gathers speed
I’m going home
I’m going home
I’m going home
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6. |
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7. |
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Its Brothers Will Sing Tonight
The prehistoric bird
watched you from the cliff,
watched you when you drifted off
The sun came down
It actually fell
It actually fell in flames
So you took your plane
And you flew it straight
Flew it straight to the X
I killed a cricket with my eyes
Its brothers will sing tonight
I built a mansion of dandelions
I went to sleep in my room
In my chest of drawers
A thing to ignore
love
The sun came down
It actually fell
It actually fell today
The sun came down
It actually fell
It actually fell in flames
Built a mud wall
Built it up tall
And then took a big fall
Rolling in dirt
And I saw you go for help
Saw you slow down and stop
And rest and stop and rest
The sun came down
It actually fell
It actually fell today
The sun came down
It actually fell
It actually fell in flames
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8. |
The One High
04:09
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The One High
Assume you won’t die, you won’t die,
You’re going to live it out in the sky, in the sky,
All right.
The one high, the one high, the one high
He had in his life, in his life
It was not all right. It was not right.
What could we do but take food
protect food, protect you and your love
of the thing you have to hold while you sleep
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9. |
Spot Box
04:12
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Spotbox
What did I tell you, look at your face
Such a serious place, your personal maps,
Park on this road and light it up
Breathe in the cold, two forms of smoke
Guard yourself boy, these are difficult days
Guard yourself boy, these are difficult days
Catch it with two hands, don’t let it hit your chest
Catch it with two hands, don’t let it hit your chest
And you wore a little blue helmet
The time it takes to learn not to fall
And we were a cradle around you
Your stickers up high on your walls
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10. |
Nocturned
04:51
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11. |
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We’re All Here in the Ocean
There were times I called out for you
Though I didn’t make a sound
I was simply thinking I could
Somehow summon you now
In the chorus there were children
Underwater breathing full
I was dreaming a good sentence
To tame your puzzled face
Swim deep to the bottom
Swim deep and let them hear
That we’re all here in the ocean
And the coral is so bright.
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12. |
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If you ride on a blind horse
The pines swayed in a serious wind
I held your hand in a closet
The world shook. We saw bookends
The bassinet gone airborne
The love you’ll hold is the love you’ll lose
And I woke up and the storm was gone
If you ride on a blind horse
Make sure it’s a slow one
And if you see your breath on the air
Take your drink and linger there
How could we long to be alone
When our friends arrive?
How could I tell you where I’ve gone?
How could I ever criticize?
I cannot sell my whole life
In one drunken night
I cannot tell my whole life
In a clear light
The sky won’t stay still
And neither will the ground
The love that we feel
It’s a lost and found
You were wonderful
All that time
You were wonderful
You were not mine
If you ride on a blind horse
Make sure it’s a slow one
And if you see your breath on the air
Take your drink and linger there
How could we long to be alone
When our friends arrive?
How could I tell you where I’ve gone?
How could I ever criticize?
I cannot sell my whole life
In one drunken night
I cannot tell my whole life
In a clear light
The sky won’t stay still
And neither will the ground
The love that we feel
It’s a lost and found
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