1. |
All Those Stars
03:47
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how many shots
before i lose sight
of where my boy’s face begins
and the satellites
i got loose
and captured everything
from the sun to the beach sand
with the wind whipping
oh
it was better when there were holes in fog
i would wave my net
i could cup my hand
and the few fireflies caught
were etched in glass
oh oh oh oh
all those stars
slogging away to shine
it’s an insult to light
to make it all mine
for the time being
gonna take a walk through
a beautiful place
and not save the view
tomorrow will dawn slow
may spout joy or sorrow
with night fall and moon glow
like sister shadows
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2. |
Go Little River
03:41
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go little river go
up the knoll and down to crescent pools
start sure and slow
hit those rocks so they’ll remember you
then jump and roll into the folds of yourself
hey you’re starting to laugh
you mean it now
as i bob in my raft
you splash and spin
go little river go
indecision doesn’t know from you
you fly and flow
forward like a child has to do
and now you twist around to see where you’ve been
i stow away as you skip and gallop home
never knowing if you’ll hold me or throw me to the deep
where the sweet fish sleep
go little river go
rushing in to hold the ones you love
the green and gold ladder you scale up into the sun
and dive off
as though the road is yours
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3. |
Caption
03:47
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ship of fools in a bathtub
ragged rowboats cresting catastrophic waves
beacons ringing out sad tunes
melancholy notes rising like balloons
i can see you, almost see you
through the photographs in the photo album
in between the plastic sheeting
underneath the caption in your faded writing
just a porcelain tea cup
no more tea leaves but the cracks hold stories of their own
of both prairie and mean streets
with a lover and once all the lovers have gone
oh the hands of the clock held us safe in our lives
time is short and the hoarding of words is a crime
oh the world is a wild place to grow wise
ship of fools in the ocean
spinning toward the center
blind before bad weather
lost to all but the lone moon
holding motionless in spite of knowing better
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4. |
Wanderlust
03:47
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my lover farther than the eye can see
her curving coastline bordering the sea
i told you i could make love in a tree
prefer it in fact, the higher the better
my savior promises to sail far away
and drag me glistening blissful in his wake
to toil for the moaning open road
there’s no other way
no place can hold me hold me
i harbor the wanderlust
in this lumbering heart
this small flame flickers erratically like the spray
crashing thin and angry from the waves
holding the sand the shore the craving life
slightly at bay, as though to savor it better
while dancing ecstatically with flowers in my hair
i’ll follow the faintest breezes anywhere
shelter the bitter howling wind
in the crook of my arm and let it tear me apart
the dunes grew high
like arms both heavy and wide
silent, holding
now i’m moored here the tide has come and gone again
but this time the ocean knows it’s not my home
it leaves me with wishes fine and dear
i don’t see it go but taste the saltiest tears
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5. |
Mine to Yours
03:51
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dancers shiver in cold
decked out in leotards
prancing ponies
like my quivering heart
trotted out and spun around
hear the groaning motors
oh oh my word
if i’d only known
of all the hearts
mine to yours would go
tantamount to the sound
of all the ocean waves
is one heard belated
tuned to forks in the road
holds me still to this spot
with no plans to vacate
as i think about you
and who mine ties to are tethered tight
i’m so glad for the moon
i swoon in it’s gravity pull
i’m full of gratitude
and i think about time
but it’s a one-sided thing
like a sword to the sun
leaves come tumbling down
weightless compared to me, this heavy tree
i’ll try to keep them in line
temper the grind of fall
oh it’s quick and needy
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6. |
Now
02:02
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every risky shady glitter milky lady
uh ub oh
living on the late hoping for a quakey
uh uh oh
i could be your now
incinerator smoky what a mangy doggy
uh uh oh
banana alligator i wanna i wanna
uh uh oh
sumo habit funny and it weighs a ton
uh uh oh
sugar sunny hive and i like it i like you
uh uh oh
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7. |
And the Stars Say
03:23
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help is coming down the river
though it’ll be a long night
i can feel it like frost on a window
while fire is burning inside
bodies shivering in cold pools of memory
fed by springs of moonlight
and the stars say ha ha ha ha ha
moon has risen then set for no reason
as though there was nothing to see
and now there isn’t so thoughts travel inward
to land upon what might not be
like calamity narrowly averted by faith and ingenuity
and so it goes
more or less
help is coming like birds in formation
with instinct a guide in the dark
and if it doesn’t it won’t
and like a lover the land will embrace and depart
and to the heavens we’ll go like the others went
without ever leaving a mark
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8. |
I Saw
03:21
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i wasn’t more even nine
couldn’t help myself
when I found that rusty knife
had to pry open that shell
heard her voice in my head
keep your hands to yourself
though i was very young
i said to hell, to hell with that
i crawled along the dirt floor
i opened up the blossom of my young nerve
though i was only ten i couldn’t have been prepared for what i saw
i saw i saw i saw
it was salty and old
with little hangers on
somewhat rough to the touch
it’s outer bone was cold
then i heard it sing
at least i thought it was a song
but when i looked into its mouth
i knew that i was wrong
i never spoke if it before
in theses past three years
i put my secrets in my bottom drawer
and i left them there
and i said my prayers
almost every night
i was naïve enough to think
that my secrets were mine
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9. |
We Are a Zoo
04:13
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the lord of love is looking for you
scanning the crowd like a hungry goat
horns of steel and hooves of stone
hand over hand up the thorny rope
Helen lied about the world
about right and true and civilized
and fighting fools
someday soon hope will arrive
pawing the air like a tiger cub
coat of sand and claws like tines
combing the sky ‘til the surface shines
we are a zoo of old and new
the teeth of fear
the eyes of doubt
the skin of lust
a roar of pain trapped in your mouth
chained in it’s cage
buried deep in a hole in the dirt
navel to knees is a small earthworm
wedged beneath all the weight of the world
frightened and shy but undeterred
we are a zoo of old and new
the line get lighter under the light of days past through
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10. |
Unknown Cargo
03:28
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a black sheet with light shining through
is not a starry night
but all the dreams we have and forget
are vessels of varying height
give ‘em all a high size limit
leave it to chance
let ‘em load the trucks with unknown cargo
don’t travel light
besides the drive home gets old fast
without the trailers to jolt you awake
and so a second becomes a minute
and this is how the hours pass
etched into the formica
is the imprint of a heavy bowl
but there’s nothing here in this kitchen
but wishes like ditches dug low
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11. |
Reveal
04:18
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all of the lines on the page are connecting
converging in silence
saving a space
nothing of history inks up a paper
like motives and mischief
sorrow and strife
you write a word and you can’t find another
behind even over or under the first
but something is bathing in white
hidden by parallel bars the characters fight it out
they live and die in the dark
move beneath the shadows on the paper of the pen
and you don’t believe what you write
can’t conceive of it
a separate life for every idea
whether or not you notice it
bravery sneaks into fortresses
following footsteps whose imprints
are barely a thought
gathering breadcrumbs listening for distant drums
hoping to find the one under the pulp
cause something is living in the crease
waiting to make the reveal
when you make it real
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12. |
Tumbling
04:32
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you waited for waves to carry you through
the undertow pulled me into you
and now we are tumbling under the sea
then floating like stars
as light as we’ve ever been
and carried afar
we waded in to the tops of our knees
the current was strong the rocks slippery
and now we are tumbling under the sea
then settled like stones
sunken and happy to be
so far below
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Vanessa Lowe Berkeley, California
grown in nyc.
educated in boston.
doctorate in denver.
escaped to northern california.
apprentice
glassblower.
radio show host.
documentary producer.
mad knitter.
animal rescuer.
fingerpicker.
songwriter.
singer.
vanessa released her 5th CD, "stars of bean hollow" in august 2012. live dates continue through 2013.
thanks for visiting her on bandcamp.
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