LYRICS:

ALL CONTENT COPYRIGHT UNSPARINGSEA/BROKETUSK 2009

IN THE DIAMOND CAVERNS

NOVEMBER 24TH 2009

 

SANDPAPER/SADPAPER

When the flame sparks high, over spires in it’s climb and when the smoke rolls down and you get lost in the cloud, you’ll see. And when your sight grows weak and your appointments leave and your apartment is high and no one stops by, there you will be. But, plans are here. There is movement here. Speak clear when they come. (Unless you know better...)

 

DIAMOND CAVERNS

Every single sentence that I spoke, and every word inside them now that broke are like little hearts under some damaged cloak, or voices breaking under common cold. Oh, Ghost, I know what you’d say if veils once drawn were raised. Every sacred story once passed down, however lovely, inconsistent now. Like Heaven sits among some lonesome cloud, or peace will follow war in time, somehow. Ghost I know where you will be. In some great dark cloud o’er me. Now every scene is held snow white clean, kept pure. There is nothing left now. There is nothing known for sure. Every head now holds some heavy crown. We are lost, but for the diamond caverns now. Ghost I know how you will come. Let us prepare the grounds.

 

SING DEVIL SING

Sing you Devil, sing those sharp words from between your lips and all through your throat. Though seemingly broke, as far as words go. High and held unto them, sing your words to broken hymns. Your pledge to those broken homes that you moved with crippled bones. Sing you Devil, sing. With knives and daggers you seem tired, and so quickly worn. Sing me awake, from those expensive wars. (He obliges, but with awkward conversation….) 

 

SLEIGHT OF HAND

“Listen intently. Watch, but don’t look too closely as I speak, because while speaking my fingers are crossed behind me. I’ll show you what I can and share some sleight of hand. It gets so hard to hide all this disappearing. My speech is innate gift, entrenched width and what you are hearing. It’s knives when you shake my hand. Well, I warned, but hey, you wanted it all.”

 

OF EMPIRE

I want to wake with a head pure and golden, to a gossip of sparrows singing. From a sleep where I knew nothing was missing, on a night that I felt I was home. I want to swim but my bones are all broken from the weight of this bottomless ocean. Like a wash of sound that’s less focused, or a sound familiar from home. I’m like a bird with one wing flying in a circle. All that’s left is the motion. I could work and not come to solution, when the night comes calling me home. I want to love with all the love that’s left in me with a heart that is broke but keeps ticking. On a day when my hands start to healing a scar that will remind me of home.

 

HELD IN LIGHT

On the first of the week when my child couldn’t speak and his hands were filled with briars. In the final hours and with all his power he opened his hands and he cried “Hallelujah! What do we do? With friends we filmed fires and sang and learned by their light. And at night among the trees, we fell in the leaves. Now we rest by the sea, near the tides. When I awoke from my sleep, my eyes were weak. I dreamt I was held in light. So, hallelujah! What will we do? With friends we filmed fires and hoped we could effectively use the light.”

 

ONLY AMOR

“Early in the morning as spirits keep us anchored to this day. We were tongue tied through prior evening, our mistakes made it comfortable to stray. Once interrupting sleeping, with throats full, filled with things we’d never say. You’re sheep, you’re wolf, you’re better. Your choirs sing you mazes when you wake!” So, in this day’s procession, with lungs black, filled with smoke (always awake) we’ve built reasons for leaving and only armor makes it comfortable to stay.

 

WOLVES AT A WEDDING

We were wolves, dressed for a wedding. We spilled blood for our anniversary and left with something missing. Now we sing, “Let’s kill the king”. We held our throats through the winter and wet our coats in the stream. We licked our wounds until they were better. Who was left for the king? Let’s return adorned with his mirrors. Our heads heavy with crowns. We’ve peered through smoke, heavy with inquiry. Now we sing, “We’ve seen we’re free!” 

 

HERE, HERE

“Somewhere over the sea I’ll come home, I’ll come home. Wait for me. Somewhere over the hills I’ll come home, I’ll come home. Please wait for me. Wait for me. Needless to say, I am not myself. I am not myself. I hope someday you will see. Needless to say I am someone else. I hope someday we will meet.”

 

FIRES, ATTICS, ETC.

Fires in attics and rain clouds in kitchens can find spectators speaking and newspapers writing headlines and some still convinced that there is menace two oceans away.  Like some fear that some here are the enemies now in some way. But, still I can find that we are nowhere, okay? The radio buzzes with voices like bees in a hive, with half truths attacking with sharp words and shouting, “Choose sides!” But, through mirrors and smoke it’s decided that we might decide who’s best at rough swimming and who’s trying at turning the tides, but still I can find that the tide is always high.

 

ALL I WANT

“Though I may be weak, with my dying breath all I want is your love, to keep me safe in death. In my last long hour, my heart is still beating yet, all I want is your voice to lead me home again. Though I am happy here,

I have had some regret. But, all I need is your love to make my mind forget. And in my last long day, I am still bleeding, yet all I want is your voice to make me whole again.

IN THE CRYSTAL CANYON

MAY 12TH 2009

 

WOLVES AT A WEDDING

See above

 

DIAMOND CAVERNS

See above

 

DEAR PLAYWRIGHT

Until you’re finally here, you’re away.

And absence make a heart grow weak.

Depending on a memory...hardly. We’d need photographs of ourselves now, to speak.

You could’ve been an Empress with white rings. Forced to take the time to make plans.

I could’ve been a tight-rope walker, I could’ve been a mime with no hands.

But we wanted crowns, rings, bones, things to be what they seem. Names to call. Phones to ring, when we’re all left to see all of your teeth, lungs, veins. Bleed for me, Even here, all that’s left, leave it here. I could guess what we’d need to pretend that we might be…

You could’ve been an actress, “Line please!”

I could be the one who sets the scene. “Dim the lights, quiet people.”

“Places please!”

 

ALL I WANT (ALT. TAKE)

See above

A CLOUD IN THE CATHEDRAL

APRIL 10TH 2008

 

O!form, O!place

As sure as the trees grow, I’m wide awake. Morning sounds and fowl speak, sings me awake. O! form, O! place. I’m awake.

In heartbreak.

In heartbreak.

Beauty sleeps inside this day, while I’m awake, and never really misses me when I’m away.

On sinking ships,

On sinking ships...

 

Where Serpents Held Esteem

I saw a house in California being

swallowed by the ground. I saw smoke from winds that carried flames of

the forest burning down. I heard a stranger in the street say, “here serpents held esteem!” L.A. is just a sinkhole now, I saw it tumble to the sea.

I found a boat that I could live on, but it was worn away and old.

It was made from wood and sheathing split from the actor’s empty homes. I went fishing for my meals but the fishes sank my fleet. Humans are more fallible than the

animals we eat.

I met a woman in the water who sang and read my palm, and as we reached the shore she sang my future in a song. She said,  “the body is a vessel and your soul is a seat, and the human

heart grows heavier with each person that

you meet.”

 

National Guard

The weather is better when you can’t see your breath. You can hold on to something until there’s nothing left. You can smell the winter, it’s

coming with death. On four legs and breathing and sparing you it’s theft.

So, take care.

Call back your armies, they’re human and flawed, and on down the mountain everyone’s

dissolved.

So, take care.

 

God will Protect the Naive

God direct me. Please protect me. Please protect me, when I go on my way. God don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. Please be with me, when in this world I stray. God please hear me. O! please hear me. O! please hear me, when on my

words I choke. God please help me. Help me to sing. Help me to sing, the song inside my throat.

 

I Wasn’t There, That Didn’t Happen

I’ve been around ships that sail. Bayonets and

silver whales. Civil wars and throwing stones. God loves your

tired bones.

I will read with tepid fear, every word that you hold dear. I’ll recite them in my death. God lives in the place you’ve left.

When I hear the ghost who sings, and adore the gifts he brings . All the whales and ships seem small. God gives, then takes it all…

And when your broken heart proclaims all of your joy has it’s place, all your sadness too must come. God accepts the things you’ve done.

I could waste a thousand days, in a thousand

different ways. With black hearts and cigarettes, God takes what

you’ve got left.

And when an absolution comes, and all the myths you’ve conjured up, and all your books and wars must end. God knows when you pretend.

 

The Fawn

There’s a movement in these bones, which springs some trap. A

momentary feign , a brief collapse. Some holy cloud of smoke could bring me back. Some sight could set me free to

breathe my last.

And, if I were fawn, I’d take my chances in the street. I’d get caught in headlights, away from the trees. Away from waiting feasts and frightening scenes. Because the forest is death in the dark, and it gets hard to see.

Oh, you’re at peace.

 

The 39 Steps

Thirty-nine steps and a short jump. I hope your noose is tight enough. I hope the rope that your hanging from is the one that hung us all.

You’re like a king among the clandestine. Like a Jew jogging through Palestine. You wear the crown of everything.

A golden staff in God’s west wing

A martyr for your

Christian cause. A

moments thought, a pregnant pause. A brief

refrain, a good first step. Another death not

counted yet.

Are we a shepherds flock who carry swords? Sheep who slay the wolves in war? Or, are we wolves who put the wolves in place? Wield our swords when they start to stray.

And when you hang we’ll replace you with another you but with differences. A different name, a

different state. A different war, with different stakes. One could really make a case, that we never really make a change, do we?

 

On Sinking Ships

When relationships, feel like sinking ships,

and stories all end sad.

Let your heart proclaim that the only thing you’ll need is all you have. When your heart feels weak, move your lips to sing and take what you gave back.

 

A Lion with no Teeth

I’m like :

A bear without claws.

Or, a lion with no teeth.

A ship lost in the fog.

Or, the moment in

between. A tameness of your heart, assumed but never seen. Or, the

calmest of storms upon some frozen peak.

And, when I wake up I tumble down. When I’m lost I’m lost in sound. In a moment of redress,

for a moment of openness.

 

The Forgotten Bones of Miles Standish

Three ships sailed on the moral-less tide. The skies grew dark and the clouds coughed and cried.

The wind shook, the ocean pined. Two ships passed and one was

left behind.

Three men died in a firey crash. Their bodies split when light was last. Their spirits sang God’s praises fast. Two men found and one not passed.

Three words too were spoken with heavy hearts and tangled lips. Two words sold, their author’s will. One word left with meaning still.

 

Half of Every Year

I know I’m not here half of every year, but hey, don’t be afraid. Those plans that we made ain’t going nowhere.

Like flowers in a breeze or summer’s salty air. The wind moves my knees. My feet point to where. Yeah, I'm going home.

 

Hymn

I’ll stand beside you in a fountain with whispering reeds and records that bring a calmness to  the darkness of hollows and in between the loveliest scenes. Where no one can see you through your

tangled, crooked remains and your heart that just sings. And, I’ll stand still just like you taught me, when everything was the way it should be.

Or I’ll stand alone under a mountain. Under a stone, or tied to the sea. I’ll wait for the things that help me remember the things that I won’t

remember to be.