1) Pent Up Genes.
(Levi Strauss)
Any thing can be made with your own thoughts, with your own hands, with a face and name, using the business end.
For when you have to jump without being brave enough, starting from where you’re at, knowing where you’re at.
There’s plenty of disappointment and no way to keep it. I was the one you poured in to. I’m more an ambulance and not a doctor.
We’ll go on to other places, hold it loose, sewing us together, folded over, feeding the machine.
That’s some kind of life you got. It grows the more it takes.
Covered in a frail confidence painting our skin with the thoughts within.
If it’s sad or if it’s scary, we are each others. We are hope, you are.
Even if the voices carry still making it like they used to.
Alive inside the stones throw us anywhere, but don’t stay face down, or think the words that keep you there.
Backbone breaker, life and time taker.
How many days have you been loved? In what ways, outside of yourself? Always beside you.
The way your soul is attached, riveted in to place, overlapped.
The best days of our lives are the ones we’re alive, making our attempt at existing, so more work can be done.
Covering each other over, painting ourselves in our canvas, respect, take care, take chances.
That’s some kind of life you got. It grows the more it takes.
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2) Little Folded Fingers.
(Moms & Dads)
She turns over and over again burning, or more glowing in that way.
Lets make a fire she said, and use our lives to fan the flames.
It’s a privilege to see it happen with full hands, never still.
On fire she moves with every turning backwards above the ground.
While her husband lays there still pushing memories around.
In all the corners, in every town across the pines.
The ants in east Texas plan their lives in cities below the power lines.
but we won’t ever know about that thin wire. Little lightning pieces vibrating electric. It’s on that thin wire, we’re all enemy, all family.
The sun is making dances up ahead heating up as far as I can see.
Is it this same way everywhere? The way a road can make a wave, right in the middle of it all.
That does that kind of medicine do? will it work the same way every time or next time?
All fingers pointing at the edge. You said to keep making it until some thing makes sense.
It’s ok. No it’s not, it won’t stop moving it’s always changing hold on.
How does the future ever get made from what we say? But for action and grace, or the time that we make.
The innocence of that is not insignificant. Out here hunting for the start, but it’s just the opposite of that.
Two hearts in the stands near the coast, hold on! Hold on with your hands wherever you go.
No matter where you go inside of you is home.
Build it strong, keep us safe, that’s the way, grow it high, in every way, make a home, keep us safe.
but they won’t ever know about that thin wire. Little lightning pieces vibrating electric. On that thin wire, we’re all enemy, all family.
It’s on that thin wire, we’re all holding on to. Moving back and forth, vibrating electric in the wind. On that thin wire, little folded fingers, all family.
Swaying back and forth, vibrating electric in the wind. On that thin wire, little folded fingers. On that old wire, we’re all enemy, all family.
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3) There’s Money In The Walls.
(Rudolph Diesel)
It’s been 30 days, maybe 34, since I left my house, tossed and grown out.
The fires burn below, the pistons creak and groan.
Under my feet the tension grows, built up like the leaves around my door.
They can say it better than I can, after months of neglect.
I can start over again if I would just let it.
This is how we live when we live somewhere.
With quiet nights inside, making plans to make a life, to keep it all safe inside and outside.
Dear anyone, do you know what that’s like? Remembering all of it.
Our building pieces stacked on top. Hanging over each other and packed in.
Keep it simple, keep it.
When you don’t go on; your song lives on. When I don’t go on.
The channel turns against the keel there’s no turning back.
Thumbing my buttons nervously, in my bed under cold sheets, hiding the thunder inside of me.
My young wife made this shirt, I’m turning in the surf, with my hat in my hand and my feet off the ground, at least it’s a start.
If it has to be I’ll starve on my own payroll. Trying to make living better I think that was the goal.
The oil moves, feeds the machine, the pressure builds. The war outside is rattling, pushing smoke out past the rings.
My hearts been dreaming about sparks.
This heavy pull is strengthening my last resolve.
It’s all burnt up, the fire’s gone, you can have it all.
An early morning calls, and I’m not there to start, my watch is on the table, ticking in the dark.
There’s money in the walls of my heart, and I left it there for you.
Even If it all has to end. I’m still glad you were my friend.
May it cure what ails you and never fail you. Three fingers in the wind. Yeah, three fingers in the wind.
When you don’t go on: your song lives on. When I don’t go on, sing along me.
Your song lives on, our song lives on, I’ll sing along with you, so sing along with me.
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4) Add Blue.
(Marie Curie)
She was standing in the dark, pockets glowing blue green.
In the backyard, in the floating world, on the in between.
The day will have its troubles on its own.
For the shells of men, not meant to be everything, can’t really be anything that’s not given or grown.
The violence of it all.
Its always risky movement. Stay down, stay still!
In the unseen trying to see behind the outside.
There’s a beauty in almost everything, how have you not seen a thing?
But instead of getting over she got out.
Like a fish made of bricks I fell for you, now I’m sinking too.
Her loose teeth moving like piano keys, getting played from lost memories.
Head on the pillow, mind in the clouds.
Like a bird looking up for safety, but it has no home to go to.
It doesn’t know what we know, can’t really go where we go.
She said: I can’t. I can’t see. I can’t see out of here.
So hand in hand we swam across the lake, the water warm against our legs.
The only light to find us was the moon.
We went all the way. From rock to rock we jumped across across the bay.
Half blind we stole each others hearts, we knew we’d be there soon.
She was standing in the sparks, pockets glowing blue and green.
In her backyard, in the floating world, on the in between.
Feet covered in gold, skin blue and glow
Every ray an arm of reaching light.
Each road different like the snowflakes in her eyes. Driving somewhere that isn’t here.
Sleeping in strange cities, our bodies foreign to ourselves, well, what’s inside.
All glowing bright behind the teeth.
Right there, making soft and weak.
Instead of getting over she got out.
Like a fish made out of bricks I fell for you, now I’m sinking too, just add blue.
As long as we’re alive me and you, we are love together when we’re together.
All crazy inside our rib cages, behind our teeth and voice.
Taking stars for forest fires our fingers scattered in our fists.
Holding on to the films we make, while our legs feed the wolf.
Starting with myself. Staring at your teeth. Trying to see what you’re saying.
Stabbing and pushing your soul through mine.
We used to live here, and we will again no doubt.
I’ll let you try and figure it out, while I figure it out.
You had it all. You had it all together. You had it all figured out.
I can’t. I can’t see.. I can’t see out of here.
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5) Bloodshot/ New Love.
(Buckminster Fuller)
Darling you, so bloodshot and new. What a view, all torn down and true.
Darling you, so bloodshot and new. All of you, torn down so torn down and true.
Drunk on the church steps again, this time it’s for real, broken head in my hands.
Sweetness, you’re all bloodshot and new all of you torn down, so broken down.
I can’t say for sure if it’s just in my mind, but there are cracks everywhere it’s what it feels like inside of me.
Darling you, so bloodshot and new. All of you, so torn down so torn down and true
Darling you, all bloodshot and new. What a view, all torn down all torn down.
And if love never dies, we’re alive. We’re alive somewhere too.
Drunk near these new graves I bet. Dug to make it easy for us all to get in.
When you get this I’ll be gone. I’ll be out living forever in my wrongs.
Staring at the walls move the cracks in the ceiling. I can hear you inside, but I don’t belong to me.
If I can remember the tension, and all the ways to safety. I think we’ll fit together in time.
You’re all I ever wanted was your life. All I ever wanted was your life.
When I dream about us in the future. We are not alone.
All I’ve ever wanted was you and your life, and to make a home together.
I’m not long or much for this world. The field corn grows and then it goes.
I didn’t want to live yesterday, but here I am. There’s still more maps to make.
You’re all I ever wanted.
Drunk again, that’s no way to begin, I keep trying to hold on with open hands.
Unhooking my thoughts from whats been dragging it around.
It’s too much to keep, everything that I’ve found, and how could I? every thought I have and why?
All I ever wanted was your life. You’re all I ever wanted was your life. You’re all I ever wanted.
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6) Shock and Value.
(Nikola Tesla)
It adds up spending a lifetime chasing shadows around.
Trying to change where the sun comes from.
Tracking dots on a screen, that could just be birds,
Or some one or thing that wants to come in to your home, and live there instead of you
You’ve got panic in your eyes, and in your mind.
Built like the columns in the sky you made for us all to climb on.
But that all got pulled down, and you had to watch it.
Digging more holes to pay for your principles. That just get filled up, it got too much to take in.
Is this what you thought it would be, wanted it to be? Made it all up in your mind about it, Is this where you thought it would go?
One too many times taken away without anybody caring.
It was all too early alone in your hotel room. Letting that broken heart guide you.
It’s only showing you more of what you’ve been having, behind your door on the 33rd story.
The only friends on your side are the birds on your window.
Not the ones that want to take everything you’ve made and use it for their own, and tell you nothing you wanted to make made sense.
Do you want to tear the world apart or the one inside of you.
Is this what you thought it would be, wanted it to be? Made it all up in your mind about it, Is this where you thought it would go?
The interchange, the currents on your fingernails, the energy in the sky where everyone can see, traced over and over above the trees and inside of them.
The birds that fly free and the ones that stay, they’re made the same, but what makes them brave? I think it’s struggle, pacing over above the trees and on them.
The towers, the gravity of it, the walls that get built out of necessity or to rip the world apart, and make a space by cutting out the trees all around them.
The burden of being connected, the risk of failure and no reward, sit down, be slow, where else can you go? It won’t erase all the places you’ve come from.
Is this what you thought it would be?
Cruel world, in the hands of so few, where everyone can be of use.
You want gold? You can have it, dig in the ground, and question, ask questions.
You’re made of the same things. You’re going into that same ground.
Is this what you wanted it to be? Giving ‘em both barrels, whatever it takes, and picking up the pieces later.
Fighting to come alive. Wanting to want to fix what’s broke. A ghost living inside of broken rusty skin.
This! is this the way you thought it would go? Still good, mostly new, with a brilliant love to give inside, with nothing to hide.
Dozens have failed, I dare you to try. Getting it all out, leaving it all behind.
It’s hard to believe it’s killing you, but it’s killing you. Is this what you thought it would be?
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7) The Window To The World
(Philo Farnsworth)
October is my favorite color, and you you’re growing on me.
This is real life like the others. I can see it but it’s not real.
In the window to the world, mirrors moving all around her.
Tubes breaking up the girl. There was no way but your light found her.
Good morning at the speed of sound!
You want to be her lonely sun. You want to be the only one.
Hey buddy she was beautiful, her glow moves on forever.
Floating past the stars, beyond where we ever will go.
You thought staying in that bottle would help your march near the edge.
Or living in her promises, said she’d follow you to the end.
But that’s just what you wanted, you know you always did.
No regrets and no surrender, no excuses, no pretend.
But home is not a place, it’s where you fill in the blanks.
It’s not a hologram, it’s not for you to break.
Hey buddy she was beautiful, she’ll always be your first.
Right there how you remember, past where we ever will go.
And the lights have to be bright to see anything at all.
You gave, you were, you thought, you made, they took, they bent, they threw away.
You didn’t want it in your house. Refused to use it yourself.
You lived, you dreamed, you built, you caved. They took it all they got their way.
You didn’t want it in your house. Refused to use it yourself.
Why did you make it in the first place? Why did you make it?
You weren’t built for war like that, I don’t think you had a fight.
As if money and some cigarettes would take it all off your mind.
But that’s just how it happens, when you’re not looking, then it’s the end.
For all your perfect planning, the good intentions in your head.
Each one you make goes out. You could have sold it all out.
Hey buddy she was beautiful, she’ll always be by your side, far out past the clouds, beyond where we ever will go.
She was the first you sent away, her light lives on electrically. That made it all worthwhile.
Why did you make it in the first place?
You took us all out to the moon. You promised you would be there too. And that made it all worthwhile.
Why did you make it in the first place? Why did you make it?
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8) A Love Letter To Detroit
(Robert Ettinger)
Another hard winter went and came, in the suburbs in a box with no name.
Sleeping still with your choices and your wives, in an office building insulated from the outside.
Next to your mother you lay a perfect stranger beside.
Wake up, your dreaming again.
Some more hard truths got given a face, making the places we live in look like graves.
And there’s no way to know how long this will last, to just freeze everything, and see if it will pass.
Or put it all on hold and see what takes. You’re not an island forgotten, you’re not surrounded by lakes.
Wake up, you’re dreaming again
And this your nightmare. This is the scene that you play. This is the dream that you have when you know it’s time to go and run away.
And this is important. This may really be happening to you I’m watching you sleep something has to get through.
But I keep making rings, these rings around you.
Wake up, wake up, wake up your dreaming again.
Ringing in one more new years eve all alone, head under heels, and the weeds are still overgrown.
Mark it another year that’s fallen right through the cracks. Are we learning anything? Will we be able to come back?
Well, fear it keep us.
Wake up, you’re dreaming again.
And here’s to rebuilding, cheers to a certain tougher skin.
You keep getting up from where you’re at, and starting over and over and over again.
The wreck hasn’t stopped, stay frozen we’ll find you where you’re at.
Lay there until you’re bored of death, and it’s time to plant.
I hope you can make it back, or make it back.
Wake up, you’re dreaming again.
And this is your life now. These are the choices that you’ve made. This is the way that you feel in your heart the more it breaks.
And what if it’s all real? There’s no easy way to rise and win. One day it won’t be this way, so try and take it all in.
Take your time. There’s a trap in these circles you’re happy to tie on.
Wake up you’re screaming, wake up you’re dreaming again!
And this your nightmare. This is the scene that you play. This is the dream that you have when you know it’s time to go and run away.
And this is important. This may really be happening to you I’m watching you sleep something has to get through.
But I keep making rings, these rings around you.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up your dreaming again.
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9) Manhattan Projects
(Robert Oppenheimer)
Right there, what you’re saying is everything I wish I could.
But the thoughts get lost, and I think I’m lost for good.
I’m learning to paint small, but I have to be still.
And that one shines, but still.
There I go again painting with my ideas, a little strokes, a little tears.
I can’t stop these shaky hands from mixing everything up, and I wander, but what’s really being lost enough?
Not all who wonder are lost in thought, not all who give live all they’ve got.
Like a thousand suns bursting at once, are only a spark of the mightiest one.
But that doesn’t stop the planets from spinning month after heavy month.
Into years that I forget memories and friends. Years I get to live lucky and try to mend.
Crossing over back again, over and back again. With every line, trying to dig in crossing over and back again.
I am become the destroyer of worlds, and when the bomb drops, my heart drops too.
And doubt sets in, please hope begin, make a way, make it calm for everything that flies inside.
The sky? This is it? but everyone can see this. No one owns it but we all do until we’re all satisfied.
Shaky knees, shaky thoughts, shaky near the business end, where I see it all get lost.
The things I made become the things I’ve forgot. This is what you wanted me to build, or that’s what I thought.
In battle, in the forest, at the top in the mountains. On the dark great sea, in the midst of javelins and arrows.
In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame. The good that we’ve done before, defends even us.
Even poor little us.
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10) Plague Doctor.
(Stephanie Kwolek, Garrett Morgan)
This is how it’s going to be. Striking while the iron’s still warm. While you’re not afraid to die.
Shielded with science from fear of certain death. Spending more on killing than anything else.
Propped up. Walls on the backs of our neighbors. Giving half your life for land no one can ever really own.
Asking yourself how did I get here again?
Bow down or you’ll be singled out. Face and palms up where we can see ‘em.
On your backs until the tires give out. The hole we build inside is a gift.
Never tired again. do you buy it? What kind of life is this?
Don’t let go of the desk in front of you. The house that can never really be yours.
Surrounded by armor bought with priceless time. To keep the calm inside.
Broken jar, damaged people. Nothing to say? Biting your tongue.
Asking yourself how did I get here again?
Bow down or you’ll be singled out. Face and palms up where we can see ‘em.
On your backs until the tires give out. The hole we build inside is a gift.
In my dumb mind I don’t recognize myself. Do you remember me? Drawing circles around my memories.
Setting traps for them, setting myself up, making a cocoon, breathing. Filling it with medicine.
Being empty. It’s just as big as being filled.
I think this is a stop sign, it’s hard to tell.
The heart in my head is aching from colliding head on, and I have a smokey mind.
Selling myself on caution. First with the color, then the good feeling.
I had a daydream. I have them every day, and in most every way my future lives inside.
So I try and pay attention, because I know it comes from somewhere, even if I can’t remember, even it it goes to nowhere.
Death rattles on without me, or maybe that’s my lungs, or the sound of my heart collapsing.
Help. I am alive.
I think this is a stop sign, it’s hard to tell.
The heart in my head is aching from colliding head on, and I have a smokey mind.
Selling myself on caution. First with the color, then the good feeling.
I had a daydream. I have them every day, and in most every way my future lives inside.
So I try and pay attention, because I know it comes from somewhere, even if I can’t remember, even it it goes to nowhere.
Death rattles on without me, or maybe that’s my lungs, or the sound of my heart collapsing.
Help. I am alive.
