1. |
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The lightning bugs came out tonight.
Upon my stoop I saw their light.
I sat & sweated in the dim
& damp dusk air. I sat, & then
a yellow dot blinks by, another,
like the first, except now closer.
Soon they are all sparkling
my knees, like bees I am smoking.
A summer secret calls to me:
way back when I was two & three.
I had a love & a love had me
& then I fell & I skinned my knee.
Tiny boats ablaze mid air!
It’s June, I’m sure that’s why they’re here.
Don’t how long they’ll hang around.
I thought perhaps I’d write it down.
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2. |
Nothing So Small
03:50
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Nothing So Small
The needle’s too big
for a heart that’s too big
and you make me feel big
even though you’re so small.
You came here with nothing
and you leave here with nothing
and you make me feel nothing
is the same at all.
Too much medicine
is going in
and your beginning
is your end.
You came here with nothing
and you leave here with nothing
and you make me feel nothing
is the same again.
And I cry.
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3. |
Moccasin Bend
03:59
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4. |
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Where’s that porch we’d drink til 3
& dream of better days to be?
They must’ve torn it down & paved it over.
I can still remember Laurel Avenue.
I am wondering: Can Laurel still remember me?
Here’s that church we played one Fall.
I keep a picture on my wall.
See that window blink off & on?
Like the night she left me on my own.
I can still remember Laurel Avenue.
I am wondering: Can Laurel still remember me?
There’s the house where Chris went down
when he finally lost his fight & found
a better place to be
than Laurel Ave, Knoxville, Tennessee.
I can still remember Laurel Avenue.
I am wondering: Can Laurel still remember me?
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5. |
Two Roads
02:40
|
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6. |
Flying Kites
03:31
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|
We pile into our baby blue
88 & drive it to
the Woolworth store.
It’s time for more
dollar kites now.
We set our sights now
on the trees that meet the horizon.
We rise aloft after dozens of tries &
the line it snaps
the wind it blows
white diamond earthwards.
There she goes.
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7. |
40-Watt Glow
03:43
|
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|
Cold blue-violet clouds spread a 40-watt glow.
Has a bulb burned out, there while I lit my own bough?
& my own lamp gives heat & makes smoke, but no light.
I would turn left or right if I knew where to go.
So I sit by my lamp,
watch it crackle & fade
& overhead clouds thicken, recede
& shed little light on the life that I lead.
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8. |
Raritan Tolls
01:12
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9. |
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|
Where we grew up you’d see the river flowing through the valley
from high upon the lookout where once men fell defending.
Winters here this river freezes flowing through the dark
concrete bridges of graffiti. It almost breaks your heart.
Home,
sometimes I yearn to go
home to the Tennessee
of my childhood memory.
Home,
sometimes I wish I stayed,
as I watch the moon grow fuller then again fade away.
Junes long ago we’d chase the sun off into the big dipper. Accompanied by crickets, our moms called us in to supper.
Don’t get me wrong, the city’s big & beautiful & bright,
but it doesn't call us in at night.
That song is gone forever.
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10. |
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Darker, darker, these nightmares are
colder, colder than the darkest night by far.
What happened next was June.
She came into the room.
She opened up our eyes,
Wouldn't believe our surprise.
What happened next was June.
And flowers began to bloom.
And sunlight filled the skies.
Wouldn't believe our surprise.
Harder, harder falls each blow.
Loser, loser I am, I know.
She makes even crying sing.
She makes nothing everything.
She makes even silence heard.
Where once was ill, now is cured.
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11. |
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Committee of Public Safety
Lyrics and music by P5 Wolff (except where noted *)
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