Untied

You’re like a cat you always scratch back

No I wouldn’t leave you but I’m sure thinking about it

And I’ll take off work and we’ll listen to the news

We just aren’t saying much lately

No it doesn’t bother me in fact silence is a blessing

I’m sure thinking about it though

Cause we tip and we sip and I bite my lip

Dreaming of being untied

You go down smooth like whiskey on the rocks

So I’ll keep you locked up until we learn to talk

“Take it easy, I ain’t leavin’, I just go where I want”

But I think I like lonely more than what we’ve got

Cause we tip and we sip and I bite my lip

Dreaming of being untied

Take the kettle off

So I put the kettle on and I let it get real hot

Then you come through the front door and you tell me to take it off

You say, “don’t you let it whistle, don’t you let it get too hot”

Well, aren’t you always saying something?

So you fill the air with your whistle instead

Yeah it circles round the room and it whirls around my head

Put your nails up on that chalkboard and you drag it to the ledge

Aren’t you always bringing me to the edge

And you say, “don’t you let it whistle, don’t you let it get too hot”

When your heart is in the kitchen but your head is in the loft

When the kitchen’s feeling empty you should take the kettle off

Cause real love it should whistle get real steamy and real hot

Come on in

I’ve been wishing you’d walk beside me

Maybe we could get along

All your cigarettes in the ash tray

You put me out like I was one

Come on over darling take your shoes off

Come on over, on in

You sure look good in the driveway

But darling you should come on in

Remember smoking in the backyard

Your mama was screaming from the porch

Meanwhile your dad was in the garage

Tomorrow we’ll get stoned and go to church

Come on over darling

Come on over, on in

You sure look good in the driveway

But darling you should come on in

I once thought I’d go my own way

Take in the daytime, gather my mind

But I remember in the backyard

My mind was young and our fingers aligned

Heavy on me

The girl in long stalking barefoot to her content

Walks before you with balance in her every step

What seems to be stable you have yet a clue

That every fumble she makes is all because of you

Heavy on me heavy on me now

The weight of a dead man I shouldn’t allow

The sun sets behind this old house everyday

You can warrant its return but it's never to stay

I bury memories in the backyard by night

“Leave him behind”, they say, “don’t put up a fight”

Heavy on me heavy on me now

The weight of a dead man I shouldn’t allow

The girl with the rainbow gloves of October

Covered her hands cause she had ties that weren’t over

Then came December and she’ll always remember

Those wrongs that turned this flame to an ember

Heavy on me your heavy on me now

The weight of a dead man I shouldn’t allow

Standing tall

I will marry a man in a black coat

Everyday he will leave me love notes

The days will be long and the nights young

I will reminisce the songs I sung

But I am merely a horse tied to a wooden post

Hit so hard in the ground it won’t budge

I need nothing, no nothing at all

Don’t worry, I’m standing tall

We will live in a perfect little house

I will make him dinner in a blouse

We’ll make love seven days a week

Make babies and put shoes on their feet

But I am merely a horse

Tied to a wooden post

Hit so hard in the ground it won’t budge

I need nothing, no nothing at all

Don’t worry I’m standing tall

Maybe I’m not built for this

Maybe I want a house made out of sticks

Maybe I want to hold my own

Maybe I want to live alone

But I am merely a horse

Tied to a wooden post

Hit so hard in the ground it wont budge

I need nothing, no nothing at all

Don’t worry I’m standing small

Forever is a funny word

Silence on the other end

Phone cord wrapped up, danglin’

Someday there won't be another answer

Everything comes to an end

Last note on the violin

The conductor waves his hands into a circle

Bows his head down chin to chest

Breathing in just one last breath

Leaves the vows he promised at the altar

Forever is a funny word

The future is an endless blur

He throws around the word like it has meaning

He walks into an open room

The emptiness, the out of tune

Chaos now, cards folded on the table

Sits down like a folded chair

Runs his fingers through his hair

Water colors bleed onto his shoulders

This is how true colors show

A little wine, a little smoke

An abstract painting turns to realism

Forever is a funny word

The future is an endless blur

He throws around the word like it has meaning

Cut his teeth on something new

The colors bleed, the black, the blue

Is kindness such a challenge to deliver?

Thumbing through the pages now

Remember when you showed me how

To trust the version of the view you painted

Forever is a funny word

The future is an endless blur

He throws around the word like it has meaning

Someday you will come along

A shadow casting on the wall

And ask me if I might just play you something

And maybe when the silence comes

You'll hear that last note hanging on 

An echo, quiet, lurking in the distance

The understory

You say goodbye each morning

Perhaps, I should have known

Or maybe saw it coming

Was I buried in my phone?

You push around your dinner

You fidget with your knife

But I didn't see it coming

Was I too busy being your wife?

Now you're turning on the TV

So I just go to bed

There's angry people screaming

Is that what’s in your head?

You plant a seed right in me

And I sit and watch it grow I feel the arms stretch in me

But I still feel alone

I'm down on the bottom

And you go on ahead

I was there in our bedsheets

When you chose her instead

Now I'm seeing you with her

And it plays in my head

Like a motion picture

Was it something I said?

Even in the understory story

There's a light that shines on through

As you walk away your shadow fades

And I see the sky is blue

I let the flies in

I like the silence

I let the flies in

I hear their buzzin’

In the night

I do the dishes

To keep me busy

Gotta keep my mind

Occupied

Something’s different

You’re not home now

I changed the locks

And it feels right

Second chances

Feel like burdens

When the silence, well,

it doesn’t bite

Maybe you lost something

That I could not replace

So you went out and found it

In some other place

And left me open

With a baby

Softly turning in my belly

While our son lay sleeping in my arms

The doctor asked me,

“How are you feeling?”

I toss and turn now

In the night

I close my eyes and

I see you with her

And darkness takes over

my mind

Maybe you lost something

That I could not replace

So you went out and found it

In some other place

And left me open

With a baby

Softly turning in my belly

While our son lay sleeping in my arms

Maybe I lost something

I should not replace

Cause it’s four in the morning

And I know you chose to stay

So my eyes open

I’m with my baby

Softly turning

In my belly

While my son lay sleeping in my arms

Cornbread

When the world feels like crumbly cornbread,

look for joy in the burnished gloss of a horse chestnut,

the inky purple of pokeweed,

the quiet persistence of late-August clematis.

Even the neighbor’s trash pile hides small treasures—

tiny hands reaching for bent spectacles

that once framed someone’s view of the world.

Breathe in the sweaty summer

as it dries into autumn air;

feel the crisp cool edge cut through humidity.

Remember: even crumbs of cornbread feed the mice.

With gentle, cupped hands

we can gather those pieces, press them back together—

like Play-Doh, rolled into a small, dense ball,

a cornbread snack,

a round little world filled with small pleasures.

Pale blue

He came home for winter the cold air would bite at our ankles and tell me, “go home alone”

Only because the roads were icy and flowers were no longer growing, no longer growing

We can lay in the garden and hope that it grows into something greater than before

But no not here, in the heart of the winter, where the water is frozen on shore, where the water is frozen on shore

We can walk bare barefoot into your house and hold our feet out to dry

But we will be distant no we won’t hold hands in the middle of the winter storm, in the middle of the winter storm

You can stand there smiling with creases in your cheeks, pretending that I didn’t hurt you

But I killed the garden we had in the winter for flowers that burned pale blue, these flowers they burned pale blue

He came home for summer the humid air warmed my heart and told me not to go home alone

But the roads were now muddy and the flowers we planted I killed a long time ago, I killed a long time a go

Lose the sound

Put the bottle down

Maybe she’ll come around

Tastes like sugar

Smells like sweat

Probably hanging on his last cent

Taste me now, lose the sound

Dress me up in an evening gown

He’s there he hears me touching you

But I’ve got nothing left to lose

He’s not boring, he likes his shoes

He’s got nothing left to lose

Rain was falling down smooth

In the early afternoon

Taste me now, lose the sound

Dress me up in an evening gown

He’s there he hears me touching you

But I’ve got nothing left to prove

Tight belt, loose laces

Sometimes you go quiet

You fade into silence

And watch the TV from your bed

You let the phone ring

Like white noise you listen

But you hear your heavy heart instead

Oh behind your tired eyes

You try to fake a smile

But your heart it felt so heavy

You could feel it in your knees

And they buckled like the belt

around your jeans

Oh now I see you

You’re in a crowded room

“How you doin’? Where you been?”

There’s a tightness in your breath

But you find a smile instead

And your heart it felt so heavy

I could feel it in my knees

And they buckled like the belt

around your jeans

You say your family

Well, they drank all the bottles

Collecting dust up on the shelf

Now the hospital is like home

and your father is skin and bones

And your heart it felt so heavy

I could feel it in my knees

And they buckled like the belt

around your jeans

You find clarity in water and rest

In water and rest

You stare out upon it and take a breath

You’re breathing in, you’re breathing in, you’re breathing in

You’re breathing in, you’re breathing in, you’re breathing in

You’re breathing in, you’re breathing in, you’re breathing in

You’re breathing in, you’re breathing in, you’re breathing in

From the bottom of your belly

You feel the release

As you untie the laces of your shoes

And your pale-skinned body

Goes out into the blue

and I just stood there looking out over you

Something, like the wind

He said, “You’re just a woman with a baby mind”

But I’ve got something on my heart tonight

And it’s wearing, tearing, pushing me around

Yeah it’s wearing, tearing, pushing me around

I’ve been standing by his side, slowly wearing down my pride

Oh how I wish I could be something like the wind

Oh I’d be blowing free and never coming back again

My mama she always knows when something’s wrong

The only one who knows my song

She says, “Oh now baby go be alone. Don’t be waiting by the phone.

Go out and be a woman. Show those men you are wholesome”

Oh how I wish I could be something like the wind

Oh I’d be blowing free and never coming back again

Oh how I wish I could be something like the wind

Oh I’d be blowing free and never coming back again

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

He’s stubborn as a stone

Chewin’ up a chicken bone

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

He’s diggin’ through the trash

And he eats it in a flash

This foxhound of mine

Now I’m chasing your tail

As you run down the road

Yellin, “You little shit get back here,

I love you so.”

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

Howlin’ at the moon

Diggin' holes all afternoon

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

He’s trouble on four paws

Breaking every little law

This foxhound of mine

Now I’m chasing your tail

As you run down the road

Yellin, “You little shit get back here,

I love you so.”

And you run and you run and you run and you run

Oh you run and you run and you run

This foxhound of mine

This foxhound of mine

He’ll be giving me hell

Till his final farewell

This foxhound of mine

When I bury your tail

You won’t run down the road

And I’ll say, “you little shit get back here

I love you so”

Whooping crane

Woke up to the sun

Beating through my window

It looks like a clementine

Reaching across the willow

Reaching across the meadow

I open up my window

Let the rays come in

I say, “hello mother nature

I’m going to let you in

I’m going to let you in

Mother nature calls to me

She says, “I’m feeling blue

All you people take from me

And there’s nothing I can do

No there’s nothing I can do”

See I know many mothers

Who don’t deserve that pain

See my mom’s happiness is gone

Like the whooping crane

Just like the whooping crane

Ooo

So I’ll go wanderin’

I’ll go to the river, lay my body down

I am decomposing

Like my mother’s frowns

Like my mother’s frowns

Mother nature embrace me

I can’t feel my head

I say, “hello” to the fishermen

I’m sorry that they take from you

I think so do I

I took all your nurturing

When Papa said, “Goodbye”

Take your time

You, you give it all for me

Your time and your body

So I can see

That I want you

I’ve got something on my mind for a minute

Time ain’t wasted when my days got you in it

Cause you take your time on me

So I take my time on you

Yeah you take your time on me

So I’ll give my time to you

Now, it’s getting late

And it’s just me

And my mistakes

I buried them deep

I wore my shame

I wore my shame

I’ve got something on my mind for a minute

Time ain’t wasted when my days got you in it

Cause you take your time on me

So I take my time on you

Yeah you take your time on me

So I’ll give my time to you

Cause I, I took a moment and I gave it all

And you, you took a moment and you gave it all

Autumn wind

I felt the inner rhythm

Of this life I know

You’ll give your soul to the river

When it’s your time to go

Burning light of the water

Please do not leave me alone

I’ve seen a lot in this world

But grieving is nothing I know

I only know your body when it has a soul

I’ve never read the bible, but after this life I know

That you’ll come on over like the autumn wind

And I’ll see you again

If you leave your clothes in the closet

What will I do with them?

How will I take on the world

Of evil without your hand

God bless the grave yard digger

What will your tombstone say?

Bury you next to the river

Next to your mother’s grave

I only know your body when it has a soul

I’ve never read the bible, but after this life I know

That you’ll come on over like the autumn wind

And I’ll see you again

Raspberry wine

He tasted like raspberry wine

I knew I’d be with him for some time

But that don’t mean no god damn thing

Don’t go out buying me a ring

And they say, “Hey, go for it! Tell him he’s worth it

Hey, go for it! Take him back home”

Home

He’s as full as the green mountain pine

But I’m as idol as a worm on a line

It wasn’t long before I started sneaking

Close your eyes love, there’s no peaking

And they say, “Hey, go for it! Tell him he’s worth it

Hey, go for it! Take him back home”

Oh what I’d do, oh what I’d do

For a place in the cold and a green mountain soul

What I’d do

He’s as full as the green mountain pine

But I’m as idol as a worm on a line

Hallelujah without an amen

Maybe this year we’ll cut our lawn

Maybe this year we’ll get all the neighbors to like us

Maybe this year, we’ll do something about that red door

We let the dog get to

He would scratch, he would scratch

And we wouldn’t let him in

Now he’s buried, buried, buried in the backyard

Poor soul, oh he’s just lying there

But he haunts us I swear

He’s howling at the moon

[Chorus]

Hallelujah without an “Amen”

And there’s nothing for us, nothing for us

Just whiskey rivers and red wine, Amen!

And they’re running through us

Running through us again

Soon the young one will head off to college

How I’ll miss her, how I’ll miss that soul

And the old one has moved out to Vegas

“How’s she doing?”

“Hell, I don’t know!?”

See my papa he, he’s a simple man

He just wants a woman to hold his hand

But he’s working, working, working so damn long

Always and forever

I wake up each morning

Heartbeat like a drum

I want you, darling

I think you’re the one

You go downstairs

And start some coffee,

Let the dogs outside

I roll over and close my eyes

And dream of you for a little while

I finally wake up

You’re right out the door

We need more creamer,

We always need more

I weed the garden take a breath

And realize that it’s you

You’re the reason that I feel alive,

The reason that I do what I do

You come through the door now

You kiss my face

You always do that

You leave a trace

Of cigarettes and sweet regrets

That you are always doing

The foxhound finally takes a nap

The coffee is done brewing

The foxhound finally takes a nap now, baby

we can finally catch our breath now, can’t we?

Come this October I will be yours

Forever darling when you come through that door

Oh, close your eyes and picture us growing together

Tomorrow is like yesterday we are always and forever