LA River

[[ A list/sequence/geography song - based on an old police photo (1955) of a man's body lying under an LA bridge, plus the route of the LA River down to the Pacific. The blood flows under the bridges and people gather under the bridges. The last part is the healing, coming together from the atoms up. ]]

on a concrete bed

between concrete walls

what's left of a river
shines in the sun

on a concrete bed

between concrete walls

what's left of a man

stares into the sun

if ever a man

ever had any blood

it has all run away

down the LA River

under the bridges of Chinatown

under the bridges of Boyle Heights

under the bridges of Vernon

under the bridges of Bell Gardens

under the bridges of South Gate

under the bridges of Compton

under the bridges of Long Beach

under the bridges and into the bay

cool water comes down from the mountains 

cool water comes down from the clouds 

filling the river - hydrogen oxygen hydrogen

clinging together - hydrogen oxygen hydrogen

the family myth

in the family myth

we escape winter

we escape water 

we escape the amnesia of the sea

and somehow there's me

in the family myth

we escape desert 

we escape searchers 

we escape the arbitrary decree 

and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

in the family myth

we escape cages

we escape rages

we escape the rogues of history 

and somehow there's me

in the family myth

we escape post-war

we escape closed door

we escape the Land of the Free

and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

in the family myth

we know their order to shoot on sight

we cross the border and move by night

and go on

in the family myth

we cross the water of a rolling sea

and all of us, some of us, one of us

must slip free

and go on

in the family myth

we escape exposure 

we escape erasure

we escape the men who hack the family tree
and somehow there's me

all of this must be true

because somehow there's me

and somehow there's you

what could a pale man do?

what could a pale man 

do but pack up?

pack up his oil and his towel?

off to a bright beach 

where I will bare my

chest to the wind and the sun

rub down my body

rub myself down

rub myself down on a towel

do you admire my polarized spectacles?

how do you like how my spectacles shine?

say how you like my dark gleaming spectacles.

this is the loveliest 

state of Connecticut 

If I had a pipe 

I would take out my pipe

I would take out my pipe and smoke it

Clear Water

I will go to the river

where the water's cold and clear

I will go to the [ only ] river

where the water's cold and clear

Push a boat out on the river

and hope to float far, far from here

I will roll to the ocean

where every river ever flowed

I will roll to the ocean

where every river ever flowed

Lose my self on the ocean

and watch the stars roll down below

[[

secular gospel -- gospel without gods, or with many

human spiritual

]]

[[

Simple blues, but it can be nudged into something better, maybe. 

- Not "I'm going down" like every other blues song, but "I will go to the river" in declaration, like Yeats' "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree".

- Not "Lose myself" but "Lose my self" like a soul returning to the great sea of souls. Harder to hear than to see, but still possible.

- Literally, take a boat to the ocean and lie back to look up at the stars from horizon to horizon. That alone is lovely to contemplate.

- Figuratively, die. Merge with the infinite. You are above (or among) the stars. 

- No god, no soul. 

]]

drawn to water

Our pale daughter,

drawn to water,

wears her outside in.

She first spoke for us

at two, on the bus:

"I am inside my skin." 

She first noticed me

when she was three

humming a wandering tune.

"Sing me the one

with the moon and sun.

I am the sun in the moon."

under water

each impossible

as the last

cloud roll over 

one million ton

one hundred mile

an hour

press me

into grass

I am too weak

to stand


[[ grammatical irregularities are intentional. ]]

boy on the beach

[[ from a picture we have all seen -- Alan Kurdi ]]

A boy on the beach
in the waves on the beach
in the sand on the beach
unafraid of the sea

You're not afraid of the open sea
You're not afraid of the rolling boat
You're not afraid of the open sea
You're not afraid of the rolling boat
You're not afraid of the deep deep water
You're not afraid of afraid anymore

You're Mama's brave boy
You're Baba's brave boy
You're not afraid of
anything anymore

migrant blues

the country we grew up in

does not exist anymore

the country we grew up in

does not exist anymore

the home that we were born in - 

had strange men kicking at the door

we have seen the people vanish

we have seen the people die

we have seen the people vanish

we have seen the people die

we have nothing left to stay for

and the tide is rolling high  

one more for the boat, sir

one more for the sea,

one more for the boat, sir

one more for the sea,

one more for the wind, sir

one more 

for life 

in a new country

is there room for my child, sir?

is there room enough for me?

is there room for my child, sir?

is there room enough for me?

one more for the wind, sir

one more 

for life 

in a new country

Hold on to your children

Hold on to your skin

Hold on to your children

Hold on to your skin

For a fistful of money

Somebody will always take you in

We may die on the water

We may die in the dark

We may die on the water

We may die in the dark

Our graves may be the open sea

Or a truck in an empty car park

the other side

[[ I sometimes write about boundaries, membranes, layers
I also sneak alternate readings into it. In this case, someone is walking on water and talking about life on the other side, crossing to the other side, and looking down through the ice to life on the other side.
 ]]

I remember the snow

I remember the cold

We would watch our words 

each turn to cloud 

In the middle of the winter

we would walk to the river

hold hands [[ there would be a musical pause here, a shift... and then they step off ]] 

and step off this earth

and walk across this river

step off solid earth 

and walk to the other side

we would brush clear the ice

to watch the world float under

we would clear the smooth ice

to watch a reflection of sky 

and watch the fish swim

there was life on the other side

A Christmas Carol

[[ I suppose this is easier to look at as a poem than as a song, but it's a Christmas carol of sorts. In summer a water strider prefigures the birth of Christ. Maybe this is the birth of bug-eating John the Baptist. Then, a half year after, when water turns to stone, Mary the bursting girl says his name. ]]

In liquid summer,

surface tension:

a strider

bending light.  

A silver circle 

under sky:

fish dart at

beating wings.

Round the sun,

water to stone

transfigures

in the change.

At the cleaving

of the year, 

song is sung and

bell is rung

for universe

on either side:

for animal,

for spirit cloud.

Set to burst,

a girl sobs,

then says a name

in rising steam.