01. Do I Qualify
02. Selkie
03. Dora
04. Tumbleweed
05. Until Now
06. Blue Milk
07. Room 612
08. Words of the Night-Time Angels
09. Finding Mu
10. Chink of Light
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01. Do I Qualify
Do I qualify as mad for carrying a magnifying glass?
I’m not sure what got me started
I stop to peer at a weed
The rings that wrap a worm
Veins of a wind-blown feather
Do I qualify as vain
Staring in the mirror
Looking into my eyes?
Enquiringly blue irises change color
Depending on the weather
Do I qualify?
Do I qualify?
Do I qualify?
Madness is nothing more
Than a perfection of being alone
We hide so much for fear of losing little
Do I qualify?
Do I qualify?
Do I qualify as mad for carrying a magnifying glass?
Am I professional standing at the sink?
For years my back turned
So no one would see me cry
Do I qualify as mad?
As mad?
What happened to you boys?
Could I ever have loved you enough
So you might not leave at any moment?
Don’t pull the no-goodbye
The no-goodbye
Do I qualify as mad for carrying a magnifying glass?
I’m mad for carrying a magnifying glass
I’m mad for carrying a magnifying glass
Do I qualify?
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02. Selkie
I will be always looking into the sea
I stand chest deep in water
Level with gulls, grebes, eiders, fishing on the fly
Two mating crabs with glossy black claws cling to the strings
Of my scallop net, spying on me with the tips
Of their roller ball eyes
How am I to inhabit myself
Locked in carbon solitude?
I plunge my head under the water
Under the water
Under the water
I glimpse an eel about my limbs, dangle my fingers in the murk
Feel barely-there jellies spiral in luminescence
Lilting fronds of weeds yoked to what always is
Bound shyly to edges of the dark.
How am I to inhabit myself
Locked in carbon solitude?
I plunge my head under the water
Under the water
Under the water
I don’t want to begin at the beginning
Sliding from amnion
Thinness of eyelids not yet open
Translucent senses, the first charge of air
Welcomed by receiving hands, safety assured
Safety assured
How am I to inhabit myself
Locked in carbon solitude?
I plunge my head
How am I to inhabit myself
Locked in carbon solitude?
How am I to inhabit myself
Locked in carbon solitude?
I plunge my head under the water
Under the water
Under the water
I will always be looking into the sea…
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03. Dora
Dora I’ve been watching you
And how you move him
As he watches you walk through the lemon grove
Your hair a shiny black rope
He loves you ‘cause you penetrate his loneliness
Dora I’ve been watching you
I’ve been watching as he watches you move
Dora do you know he watches you
As you lie in the grass, touching your breasts
Your hand inching beneath your skirt
Your eyes aligned with stars
He loves you ‘cause you penetrate his loneliness
Dora I’ve been watching you
I’ve been watching as he watches you move
Dora I’ve been watching you
I’ve been watching as he watches you move
Oh Dora I’ve been watching you
I’ve been watching as he watches you move
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04. Tumbleweed
I closed the curtains when her headaches came on
Sewed her gifts for Mother’s Day
There were many heart-shaped stones
Still she was angry
I had a tendency to agree
A habit I hoped just might be
The way to her heart
Her heart
Heart
She was a tumbleweed that never stopped
I was a child with a lot of love
Of love
Love
They will pad her face
Smooth the creases of disdain
Pink her cheeks
I will study her
In her coffin
The sheen of her skin
She was a tumbleweed that never stopped
I was a child with a lot of love
Of love
Love
Hers is a metaphor of rumpled paper
As she lie there
I will thank her
Love, love, love and anger
Love, love, love and anger
She was a tumbleweed that never stopped
I was a child with a lot of love
Of love
Love
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
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05. Until Now
I knew I was in trouble
The best kind
Walking with you
Through that forest of white pine
All the years just disappeared
Under the tree’s gentle shade and quiet
Try, try, try, try as we might
It’s not by appointment that we meet delight
You took my hand and said “I do believe
You have never been seen
Until now
Until now
You have never been seen until now
The first time I saw you
You moved your hands in the air
Mimicking the wind
To tell your story
You didn’t care what anybody thought
In that room
And I was captivated
Oh I came to your room
In a nightgown and coat
Will we make love?
I might die if we don’t
Oh it felt like a dream
With you simply lying next to me
Try, try, try, try as we might
It’s not by appointment that we meet delight
Though I didn’t say it, I could see
That, like me, you had never been seen
Until now
Until now
You have never been seen until now
Go ahead
Put your hands up to the sky
Rummage around heaven
See what you can find
The peregrine falcon he sees at night
By the red, blue and violet light
Try, try, try, try as we might
It’s not by appointment that we meet delight
You took my hand and said I do believe
We have never been seen
Until now
Until now
Until now
Until now
Until now
Until now
We have never been seen
Until now
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06. Blue Milk
I still wear stockings, palest pink
And dyed black fairy wings
When I was a child I wanted to disappear
Wipe the moon from my hemisphere
We’ll never meet like this again
February 16th, 1991
The sun goes down
Sky’s tobacco stained
My waters break
I howl. You cry. How strange.
The placenta plump like a bagpipe
My breasts fill with hot milk
With blue milk they fill
You anoint me
You anoint me
My love is savage
I still wear stockings, palest pink
And dyed black fairy wings
The police advise me not to break a thing
To leave within the hour
The August you were sixteen
Day after Labor day
Your father says I’m unfit to be a mother
He’s hidden you away
You anoint me
You anoint me
My love is savage
I strip without shame, spread my limbs
I’ve never begged ‘til now
Where are you?
Will he tell?
I step inside
I know which vessel to smash
Wafer thin, opaque, ancient
Shards shimmer in the courtyard
Moths are dying in the light
My nakedness they use against me in court
An embarrassment in broad daylight
You anoint me
You anoint me
My love is savage
You’ll find a mother’s heart can be broken
And in many ways
You’ll find a mother’s heart is broken
Everyday
You anoint me
You anoint me
My love is savage
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07. Room 612
You came to the hotel
Dressed in a suit
Just for fun
I greeted you in black lace
At the door
As our evening begun
Room 612
This is where we are
My love for you
Burns like the brightest star
But my ring on the table
My ring on the table
My ring on the table
Holds a promise and a lie
In room 612
We spread out our dinner
On a towel
Finished with champagne
Everything depends
On what happens next
Everything can change
The twin beds say: “We’ll keep your secret”
The window says: “No way”
The mirror waits patiently
As we decide our fate
Room 612
This is where we are
My love for you
Burns like the brightest star
But my ring on the table
My ring on the table
My ring on the table
Holds a promise and a lie
In room 612
Room 612
This is where we are
My love for you
Burns like the brightest star
But my ring on the table
My ring on the table
My ring on the table
Holds a promise and a lie
In room 612
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08. Words of the Night-Time Angels
Walk awhile under
The Byzantine sky
No abstractions here
No philosophy
It’s impossible not to inhale
The night-blooming flowers
Each petal, dark-rimmed
Rinsed gold, we‘ll talk with topaz tongues
With wings unfurled like the sails
Of a great ship nearing home.
Words of the night-time angels
Words of the night-time angels
Make a new vow
Remember the color of twilight
The undying blue
And the moon as she ascends
Go to the sacred forest
Remove your clothes
Be cleansed.
Cry out.
Jump. Dance.
Walk awhile.
Words of the night-time angels
Words of the night-time angels
I hear the words of the night-time angels
Words of the night-time angels
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09. Finding Mu
I’d like to go out West
See the colors of madder lake
Vermillion, the pink of strawberry ice cream
Throw a stone into a river
It’s never the same
Here one has no name
I’d see desert butterflies
Who love the cold
The indigo light of darkness
Where Jupiter loops
Her iced wings rimmed in an apothecary of blues
Oh I’d like to go out West
To see you
Throw a stone into a river
It’s never the same
Here one has no name
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010. Chink of Light
You cracked me open
A chink of light
And I stayed that way
I used to watch you sleep
You’d talk out loud in your dreams
And I hoped
Time would go slow
So I’d remember everything
I was afraid I wouldn’t get it right
And often I didn’t get it right
But we used to play in the garden
And you’d wear your fairy wings
And I hoped
Time would go slow
So I’d remember
Foolishness first
Wisdom next
The daily path never ends
Just like my love for you
They way you were it was set
You watched close and were loyal to the end
My shy little girl who’d line up her shoes
Is her own woman now
And I hope
Time will go slow
So you’ll remember everything
Every miraculous moment
Every hard mistake
Called by the Kraals in the Valley
May we be fearless ‘til our last days
I hope time will go slow
So you’ll remember
I hope time will go slow
So we’ll remember
Foolishness first
Wisdom next
The daily path never ends
Just like my love for you