Margaret
vs. Pauline
Everything's so easy
for Pauline
Everything's so easy
for Pauline
Ancient strings set feet
a light to speed to her such mild grace
No monument of tacky
gold
They smoothed her hair
with cinnamon waves
And they placed an ingot
in her breast to burn cool and collected
Fate holds her firm in
its cradle and then rolls her for a tender pause to savor
Everything's so easy
for Pauline
Girl with the parking
lot eyes
Margaret is the fragments
of a name
Her bravery is mistaken
for the thrashing in the lake
Of the make-believe monster
whose picture was faked
Margaret is the fragments
of a name
Her love pours like a
fountain
Her love steams like
rage
Her jaw aches from wanting
and she's sick from chlorine
But she'll never be as
clean
As the cool side of satin,
Pauline
Two girls ride the blue
line
Two girls walk down the
same street
One left her sweater
sittin' on the train
The other lost three
fingers at the cannery
Everything's so easy
for Pauline
Hold On, Hold On
The most tender place
in my heart is for strangers
I know it's unkind but
my own blood is much too dangerous
Hangin' round the ceiling
half the time
Hangin' round the ceiling
half the time
Compared to some I've
been around
But I really tried so
hard
That echo chorus lied
to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold
on, hold on"
In the end I was the
mean girl
Or somebody's in-between
girl
Now it's the devil I
love
And that's as funny as
real love
I leave the party at
three a.m.
Alone, thank God
With a valium from the
bride
It's the devil I love
And that's as funny as
real love
And that's as real as
true love
That echo chorus lied
to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold
on, hold on"
That echo chorus lied
to me with its
"Hold on, hold on, hold
on, hold on"
That Teenage Feeling
Now that we've met
We can only laugh at
these regrets
Common as a winter cold
They're telephone poles
They follow each other
One, after another, after
another
But now my heart is green
as weeds
Grown to outlive their
season
And nothing comforts
me the same
As my brave friend who
says,
"I don't care if forever
never comes
'Cause I'm holding out
for that teenage feeling
I'm holding out for that
teenage feeling"
All the loves we had
All we ever knew
Did they fill me with
so many secrets
That keep me from loving
you
'Cause it's hard, hard
John Saw That Number
Old John the baptist,
old John divine
Leather harness round
his line
His meat was locust and
honey
Wild honey lord, wild
honey
John saw that number
Way in the middle of
the air
Cryin' holy, holy to
the Lord
Old John the baptist,
old John divine
Frogs and snakes are
gonna get John this time
God told the angel "go
see about John"
So he flew from the pit
with the moon round his waist
Gathered wind in his
fists so the stars round his wrists
Cryin' holy, holy to
the lord
Read the revelations,
you'll find him there
Third chapter, fourth
verse where he said unto me
"There's a beast that
rose out of the sea"
Ten crowns, ten crowns
On his horns write "blasphemy"
John couldn't read it
(John couldn't read it)
Get on repeat it
John couldn't read it
Holy, holy to the Lord
There was a man, a pharisee
Who came by night to
meet him
Said "I know thy teacher
came from God cause no man can do such miracles
Without the lord to entreat
him"
God told the angel "go
see about John"
So he flew from the pit
with the moon round his waist
Gathered wind in his
fists and the stars round his wrists
Cryin' holy, holy to
the Lord
Holy, holy to the Lord
Holy, holy to the Lord...
Lion's Jaws
You're gone, the trees
are so quiet
When your hand was in
my pocket
How they swayed from
side to side
Now the meddling sky
and my snowy eye
Sees a different night
The night I fell into
the lion's jaws
To my regret and your
delight
Those teeth themselves
could not divine
Nor their pressure estimate
The haze I wish to never
break
And to never contemplate
Momentum for the sake
of momentum
Momentum for the sake
of momentum
Of momentum
At Last
I can say that I've lived
here in honor and danger
But I'm just an animal
and cannot explain a life
Down this chain of days
I wished to stay among my people
Relation now means nothing,
having chosen so defined
And if death should smell
my breathing
As it pass beneath my
window
Let it lead me trembling,
trembling
I own every bell that
tolls me |
Star
Witness
My true love drowned
in a dirty old pan
Of oil that did run from
the block
Of a falcon sedan 1969
The paper said '75
There were no survivors
None found alive
Trees break the sidewalk
And the sidewalk skins
my knees
There's glass in my thermos
And blood on my jeans
Nickels and dimes of
the fourth of july
Roll off in a crooked
line
To the chain-link lots
where the red tails dive
Oh how I forgot what
it's like
Hey when she sings, when
she sings when she sings like she runs
Moves like she runs
Hey when she moves, when
she moves when she moves like she runs
Moves like she runs
Hey there there's such
tender wolves ‘round town tonight
Round the town tonight
Hey there there's such
tender wolves ‘round town tonight
Round the town tonight
Hey pretty baby get high
with me,
We can go to my sisters
if we say we'll watch the baby"
The look on your face
yanks my neck on the chain
And I would do anything
To see you again
So I've fallen behind…
Hey when she sings, when
she sings when she sings like she runs
Moves like she runs
Hey when she moves, when
she moves when she moves like she runs
Moves like she runs
Hey there there's such
tender wolves ‘round town tonight
Round the town tonight
Hey there there's such
tender wolves ‘round town tonight
Round the town tonight
Go on, go on scream and
cry
You're miles from where
anyone will find you
This is nothing new,
no television crew
They don't even put on
the sirens
My nightgown sweeps the
pavement
Please don't let him
die
Oh how I forgot...
A Widow's Toast
Specters move like pilot
flames
Their widows toast at
St. Angel
Better times collide
with now
The tears were warm,
I feel them still
Their heat to vapor and
disperse
And cloud our eyes with
weary glaze
You raise your glass
and may exclaim
"I'll put my hands on
the truth by God"
But it's faster, love,
than you and me
Faster than the speed
of gravity
That's how it catches
you from falling
And how it always slips
away
Specters move like pilot
flames
Their widows toast at
St. Angel
Better times collide
with now
And better times
And better times are
coming still
Fox Confessor Brings
the Flood
Driving home I see those
flooded fields
How can people not know
what beauty this is
I've taken it for granted
my whole life
Since the day I was born
Clouds hang on these
curves like me
And I kneel to the wheel
Of the fox confessor
on splendid heels
And he shames me from
my seat
And on my guilty feet
I follow him in retreat
What purpose in these
deeds
Oh fox confessor please
Who married me to these
orphaned blues
"It's not for you to
know, but for you to weep and wonder
When the death of your
civilization precedes you."
Will I ever see you again
Will there be no one
above me to put my faith in
I flooded my sleeves
as I drove home again
Dirty Knife
So suddenly the madness
came
With its whiskered, wolven,
ether pangs
He locked the door
And shut the blinds
He laid down on the floor
and he slept like iron
While the dirty knife
worked deep
Into his spine
The blood runs crazy
The blood runs crazy
Cascading letters pool
on the stairs
The grass is high, the
cats are wild
You can't even touch
the tip of their tails
And the blood runs crazy
with giant strides
He sang nursery rhymes
to paralyze
The wolves that eddy
out the corner of his eyes
But they squared him
frozen where he stood
In the glow of the furniture
piled high for firewood
And the blood runs crazy
with giant strides
And the woodsman failed
to breech those fangs in time
So they dragged him through
the underbrush
Wearing three winter
coats and a dirty knife
[Ukrainian Part]
Maybe Sparrow
Maybe sparrow you should
wait
The hawks alight till
morning
You'll never pass beyond
the gate
If you don't hear my
warning
Notes are hung so effortless
With the rise and fall
of sparrow's breast
It's a drowning dive
and back to the chorus
La di da di da di da
La di da di da di da
Oh my sparrow it's too
late
Your body limp beneath
my feet
Your dusty eyes cold
as clay
You didn't hear my warning
Maybe sparrow it's too
late
Moonlight glanced off
metal wings
In a thunderstorm above
the clouds
The engine hums a sparrow's
phrase
For those who cannot
hear the words
For those who will not
hear the words
For those who will not
hear the words
La di da di da di da
La di da di da di da
Maybe sparrow
Maybe sparrow
Maybe sparrow
The Needle Has Landed
Here I am in traffic's
slow flow
Where the needle touched
down
Carbon planes draw a
cage round the air force base
Where the needle touched
down
My foot on the brake
it's ok to fly low
Over poor Spanaway
An eagle swooped down
from a semi-trailer
Took the name of your
town from a sharp-toothed freighter
The needle's the same
that recorded and played
When you left me at the
greyhound the year I moved away
And if I knew then what's
so obvious now
You'd still be here baby
My baby, baby
So that's why I never
come back here
That's why they spit
out my name
Your ex's have clawed
up the bible
Trying to keep me away
With the sledge of tectonic
fever
The needle has landed
again
Let it play
And the needle touched
down
The needle is landing
And the needle touched
down
The needle is landing
An eagle swooped down
from a semi-trailer
Took the name of your
town
From a sharp-toothed
freighter
And if I knew then what's
so obvious now
You'd still be here |
