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
April
Emerging as a juicy mango
Unfurling like a pink newborn
Cotyledons unfolding, as
The embryos of April form
Shedding winter coats and molting,
Sloughing sweaters and outer warms
Slipping from our socks and morphing
Hatching as our cells transform
Emerging as a little sapling
Unfurling like a pink newborn
April makes us feel like babies
In our new skin, feel the warmth
Exoskeleton starts forming
From callused heals and little thorns
Here comes winter with a vengeance
Crawl into my bed once more
Then the snow starts gently falling
button up my winter coat
Share a cigarette with silence
I’m freezing and I start to mourn
Shedding winter coats and molting
Spring is knocking at my door
Square wheels
Sustain the story A repetitive view A constant sameness Similar The system works Why fix the wheel? "It's square", you say. But that's okay!A work of art A bike that stays It does not roll Away Now there it sits Some say it quit Some say it put downRoots One can assume Like me and you The bike would like to move "But what you don't seeThat while I may not move, The world is moving around me"