Another Day in Paradise
Fully hatted on this Amsterdam grey
Cloudful, wet through this suicide day
Jumping no more through the hoops of ambition
Hopping the headlines in the evening edition
Make a splash landing at the foot of the crowd
No doubt quite alarming, no doubt still too proud
The last breath of summer has staled in its cough
Bringing this gentle reminder is all but enough
Yet to summon the strength we need struggle no further
Than the end of our physical limits can deliver
And receiving this knowledge with a quiet admission
We adjust our perception and delay our decision
There is no more defendable stance than this posture
In the future we'll note how we suffered so last year
In the present we'll hurry to conjure impressions
Of a past left to rot at the roots of concession
Leaving not but a little of importance to say
How it came that a man died on the street in this way.
Audio
Cloudful, wet through this suicide day
Jumping no more through the hoops of ambition
Hopping the headlines in the evening edition
Make a splash landing at the foot of the crowd
No doubt quite alarming, no doubt still too proud
The last breath of summer has staled in its cough
Bringing this gentle reminder is all but enough
Yet to summon the strength we need struggle no further
Than the end of our physical limits can deliver
And receiving this knowledge with a quiet admission
We adjust our perception and delay our decision
There is no more defendable stance than this posture
In the future we'll note how we suffered so last year
In the present we'll hurry to conjure impressions
Of a past left to rot at the roots of concession
Leaving not but a little of importance to say
How it came that a man died on the street in this way.
Audio
Bonaventure
According to what I've heard described as
pertinence twice removed, besides your
happiness won't belie the cavity
that our future finds out, haven't we?
Arranging a word world would you say that
community can be made inside that
communicates with itself in spite of all
the other interests that keep you happily?
Any old thing you say
begins with a notion of
what you mean and ends with emotions put in-between
the big words and
little jokes at the edges.
Bonus points for bon-adventure
Bigger scores for smaller minds
Living teeth or laughing denture
Punchlines proudly paid in kind
Any old thing you say
begins with a notion of
what you mean and ends with emotions put in-between
the big words and
little jokes at the edges.
Audio
pertinence twice removed, besides your
happiness won't belie the cavity
that our future finds out, haven't we?
Arranging a word world would you say that
community can be made inside that
communicates with itself in spite of all
the other interests that keep you happily?
Any old thing you say
begins with a notion of
what you mean and ends with emotions put in-between
the big words and
little jokes at the edges.
Bonus points for bon-adventure
Bigger scores for smaller minds
Living teeth or laughing denture
Punchlines proudly paid in kind
Any old thing you say
begins with a notion of
what you mean and ends with emotions put in-between
the big words and
little jokes at the edges.
Audio
Rock Steady
Sitting pretty sideways thinking
this may be the day
My depleting brain remembers
all that's in the way.
Sitting sideways thinking pretty
all is not yet lost
My accounting takes account of
dreamings torn and tossed.
Just before awakened I imagine life anew
Several hours later I won't wonder what to do
As the day is ending I regain my misty view
When the night is blackest I forget about me too.
Sadly planning proper futures
happy in the end
Room for all the bigger pieces
now without a friend.
Sadly proper futures planning
takes a little time
More than just a little money
and a twist of Lime.
There's room enough for what I need
but not for what I have already
There's time enough to intercede
but what'll it take to keep time steady?
Audio
this may be the day
My depleting brain remembers
all that's in the way.
Sitting sideways thinking pretty
all is not yet lost
My accounting takes account of
dreamings torn and tossed.
Just before awakened I imagine life anew
Several hours later I won't wonder what to do
As the day is ending I regain my misty view
When the night is blackest I forget about me too.
Sadly planning proper futures
happy in the end
Room for all the bigger pieces
now without a friend.
Sadly proper futures planning
takes a little time
More than just a little money
and a twist of Lime.
There's room enough for what I need
but not for what I have already
There's time enough to intercede
but what'll it take to keep time steady?
Audio
In a Pinch
In a pinch
when the skin is squeezed and growing purple
In a pinch
Caught between the thumb and finger
pulled into an awful shape
Not without the strength of many
will the tortured flesh escape.
In a pinch
when the skin is squeezed and growing purple
In a pinch
Bruising easy, bruising deep
vessels broken for their blood
Spreads around the bone and muscle
turns the tender tone of mud
When the hand lets go
and the blood will flow
Let the skin return
with a bite and burn
Audio
when the skin is squeezed and growing purple
In a pinch
Caught between the thumb and finger
pulled into an awful shape
Not without the strength of many
will the tortured flesh escape.
In a pinch
when the skin is squeezed and growing purple
In a pinch
Bruising easy, bruising deep
vessels broken for their blood
Spreads around the bone and muscle
turns the tender tone of mud
When the hand lets go
and the blood will flow
Let the skin return
with a bite and burn
Audio
Easy Beats
things of dreams
can't even speak the words
completely unknown
the memories of experience.
reaching for
how far down did I go?
how long ago?
but I've still got the photographs.
evidence that once there was
not one not two but three voices sometimes four
a quiet thin sound
made strong through words
took shape through rhythm
made full through harmony
now I'm tired
my mind forgets to play
my fingers are still
my eyes dart back and forth
mouth the words
swimming in my own soup
distracted by a crouton
I should have kept better notes
heart beats (everybody needs one)
drum beats (everybody wants one)
dead beats (everybody's got one)
pickled beats (everybody's bored)
easy beats (are still my favorite)
Audio
can't even speak the words
completely unknown
the memories of experience.
reaching for
how far down did I go?
how long ago?
but I've still got the photographs.
evidence that once there was
not one not two but three voices sometimes four
a quiet thin sound
made strong through words
took shape through rhythm
made full through harmony
now I'm tired
my mind forgets to play
my fingers are still
my eyes dart back and forth
mouth the words
swimming in my own soup
distracted by a crouton
I should have kept better notes
heart beats (everybody needs one)
drum beats (everybody wants one)
dead beats (everybody's got one)
pickled beats (everybody's bored)
easy beats (are still my favorite)
Audio
Safe Harbour
Clamped to my head
they're the very finest evidence
that I'm still not dead
but my head, it's been a few years since-
protected and fed
for as long as they will play the dance
I'll not have it said
that they've harboured me from elegance
Two views of life
I've got one on either side of me
In sync, out of sight
give me everything I want to see
Clearly I know
from what I have seen of bluer skies
Now I hate to go
when the time comes for my other eyes
Politely they will say to me
It's time to go now, don't you see?
And I do, but I don't
And I will but I won't
Audio
they're the very finest evidence
that I'm still not dead
but my head, it's been a few years since-
protected and fed
for as long as they will play the dance
I'll not have it said
that they've harboured me from elegance
Two views of life
I've got one on either side of me
In sync, out of sight
give me everything I want to see
Clearly I know
from what I have seen of bluer skies
Now I hate to go
when the time comes for my other eyes
Politely they will say to me
It's time to go now, don't you see?
And I do, but I don't
And I will but I won't
Audio
Happy Trees
I've tendencies
to put at ease
At least the trees
have themselves to please
To me it seems
that in my dreams
A life worth living
was beyond my means
And way beyond today
another sat-down sit-around instead
said stay away from dreams again you'll
never find the one you want to keep around you
in the night-time air
all the breathing that is not your own
provides witness that you're not alone
still air is only things you cannot see
so spread apart are we
like molecules dancing to their tune
like anything I say, I said too soon.
Audio
to put at ease
At least the trees
have themselves to please
To me it seems
that in my dreams
A life worth living
was beyond my means
And way beyond today
another sat-down sit-around instead
said stay away from dreams again you'll
never find the one you want to keep around you
in the night-time air
all the breathing that is not your own
provides witness that you're not alone
still air is only things you cannot see
so spread apart are we
like molecules dancing to their tune
like anything I say, I said too soon.
Audio
Wind me Up
After a lot of looking at
Becomes the memory of what was - never like this
During a good amount of living
with - aside - around what is - always - this way
Before a little looking for
A future planned ahead what would be - someday
Someday past or future
Someday lost or found
One day then another
Slightly tightly wound
Audio
Becomes the memory of what was - never like this
During a good amount of living
with - aside - around what is - always - this way
Before a little looking for
A future planned ahead what would be - someday
Someday past or future
Someday lost or found
One day then another
Slightly tightly wound
Audio
Silence
I can't talk to plants
I won't talk to ants
Vocabularies even of the best of insects
leave me in a trance
Without a word to say
An apple or a plumb
A loaf or a crumb
The topics on today's itinerary of toast
leave me dumb
Without a word to say
And still I will if need be
Create a plate of bread and cheese
And wine and dine with conversational ease
Among characters, bacteria the likes of these.
Audio
I won't talk to ants
Vocabularies even of the best of insects
leave me in a trance
Without a word to say
An apple or a plumb
A loaf or a crumb
The topics on today's itinerary of toast
leave me dumb
Without a word to say
And still I will if need be
Create a plate of bread and cheese
And wine and dine with conversational ease
Among characters, bacteria the likes of these.
Audio
1 step beyond
Crawling out over some dark horizon
makes me glow in the dark
Until I get so hot
I start to shake and throw off sparks
Then it's all downhill from there
And I can slide slowly shimmering
over the edge:
the first step taken
Only a few million more to go.
Audio
makes me glow in the dark
Until I get so hot
I start to shake and throw off sparks
Then it's all downhill from there
And I can slide slowly shimmering
over the edge:
the first step taken
Only a few million more to go.
Audio
Epilog
Standing all alone
on two sticks made of wood
feeling good, as I should,
in the middle of the rest of it.
I guessed a bit and thought about you,
wondered what you said
when they told you I was dead.
Everything I'd ever been,
and all things I thought would win your heart
were now just pulses in the dark warm earth below your feet
A tiny heat, quite imperceptible to those
whose blood still circulates
my soul content to navigate alone.
I can barely hear a sound now,
when I once could hear a song
But its irony escapes me
that I've finally found a quiet place to listen
Now the voices that I long to hear,
the laughter in my inner ear
is lost to the dust
and my lust for you is long forgotten.
on two sticks made of wood
feeling good, as I should,
in the middle of the rest of it.
I guessed a bit and thought about you,
wondered what you said
when they told you I was dead.
Everything I'd ever been,
and all things I thought would win your heart
were now just pulses in the dark warm earth below your feet
A tiny heat, quite imperceptible to those
whose blood still circulates
my soul content to navigate alone.
I can barely hear a sound now,
when I once could hear a song
But its irony escapes me
that I've finally found a quiet place to listen
Now the voices that I long to hear,
the laughter in my inner ear
is lost to the dust
and my lust for you is long forgotten.