1. |
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the topography of my memory of when we met
is shaped like clouds that will be shaped by wind
i walk and i move through woods and dreams with timeless friends
shaped like clouds lit from within
we take doors off of things and move them around
we take pictures of things and move them around
welcome back
welcome home
welcome falling
welcome stones
candles already lit, emerging from the sea
cataloging echoes on the frozen lake
we’re in the same spots on this continent
while other mountains erode away away away
intrusive igneous batholiths
we extemporize
stars light up our eyes
(and we pluralize)
an angel walking in starlight
in the woods at night
infinite wilderness
and when i’m lucky enough
to walk and talk in gardens like that
it’s effortless
i don’t have to try to remember everything
i love you and of course i remember everything
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2. |
Year of Foxes
03:51
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every time you open your mouth, foxes dart out
every time i close my eyes, foxes rush in
lava, honey, dew
these windows are always open
these petals are always open, too
turn off the century
play it back, adding broad and fine brushstrokes
building momentum, not memorials
singing songs not corporeal
french girls on the hill
howling wind on the radio
me and sis on our bikes
and so much time
driving to chicago to see paris street; rainy day
staying up till dawn to touch knees under blankets
lying on my back on top of a lake
baby pictures of thunderstorms
and all the people i adore and miss
the softest breasts and fullest shadows
endless hours tracing the surface of the moon
along your back
tympanum: glacial and ecstatic
our time is the holocene
and our home is right now
sparks and paint fly as our wheel spins
sparks and paint fly as our evening ends, begins
it’s okay to stop and note this feeling
but we have to remember:
the only way to get back here
is to travel somewhere new
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3. |
Plurale Tantum
05:32
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the spirit of the beehive
is not one of industry or repetition
it’s a moving and electrical stained-glass window
ultraviolet and polarized
lamenting unknown redness
where vision comes through on a sliding scale
forested forever for you
connective trajectory
a point of bursting light
moving from branch to branch to cradling arms
canopy wagging hips and waving wings
above and below
oh, such a pretty picture
such a cascade of greenness
a fixture in my dreaming lands
press shoe after shoe
on carefully-placed stones
on moss or stairways
or soft april earth
because you’re my favorite
windy-haired and gracious
face and limbs and vocal inflections
at play with and in motion through
endless days that frame you so
violetness, you’re a photograph wherever you go
one more song
one more time
across endless, separate skies
living winter and autumn (and those other seasons)
on the largest, roundest possible scale
stretch a neck to see the curve
tap a toe to keep time
one more song
whiteness of a pierced cloud
a never-falling angel
a heart as strong as the wind
from the heart of the land
stretching forever north from here
touch the whiteness of a pierced cloud
stain the panes of any sunset you like
and tell me a story
in addition to the sunset
it’s warm here within your glance
we’re somewhere somewhere summer hot
funny little forever
i want to hold your hand
contemplate your wingspan
fall through your best clouds
and land in the land where you live
every path that you and i
ever walked
is a winding, humming strand of light
all that’s maintaining the shape and altitude of the terrain
spreading out from all of our first steps outside
have you noticed how the light changes
with each crossing of the threshold?
stay inside of any sunset you like
rosy and lavender
alchemical and well-hydrated
plurale tantum, count the stars
we’re somewhere somewhere somewhere else
uncountable
somewhere somewhere else
so scared of running out of breaths
and rain and rain and rain
that time (which is not profound and must not be respected)
rears up
(roars up, tears up)
unexpected, and ruins our good time
and what innocence we had
was lost to
this interjection
this realization
that wind
and heat and heat and heat
and this feeling
cannot be contained, preserved or persuaded
but i’ll keep coming
and singing
and going and going and going
and
and
and
incandescing for as long as this one lasts
for as long as incandescing lasts
as long as incandescing
incandescing
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4. |
Wild is the Way
02:42
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electric guitar
electric viola
electric labyrinth
electricity seeking
currently reading
currently walking
currently daydreaming
always composing the next letter
where will we meet?
to access the horizon?
and touch the center?
where on this map are you?
wild is the wind
wild is the land
out there under stars
in her windy ways
stir clouds with fingers
bend trees with snow
paint eyes with eyes
and aster flowers
windy here for weeks
electric river, currents, seabed
receiving correspondence
from the literal wild west
the compass pointing to our words
is hanging from the moon
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5. |
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in this moment and for many moments to come
i'm yours if you want me
this will eventually change if you don't
but i don't plan on changing it
if you do
you make me nervous and happy
when you smile at me
it's easy:
i'm all yours.
i will write better and better songs
and i want us to be close when i do
and i want you here with me
because i want you
speak slow and say the word
or just grab my hand
and i'll speak soft right next to your ear:
ooooh
YES, it felt just like this that time
that tumbling time
that i knew absolutely
and i felt it that timeless other time
when summer, a thriving cathedral
came rushing, came stumbling in
windy is the color of my true love’s hair
ineluctable
cherry-stained floor in the shadows beneath us
in the hush of the place where our hands meet
in these bright and flickering nights
whether the wind
kisses, blesses or lashes indifferent our branches
our limbs and our courses
jump and run parallel to the round, moving earth
and your steps land lovely
on a horizon made tangible by night
enveloped by night
and when you are near me
i feel electricity
i want to experience your electrical activity
i want to look high and look low with you
(in case you didn’t know
we’ll look everywhere we go)
you have a direct line to the center of me
and i’m happy to say it again
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6. |
Very Much Alive!
02:42
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memories lay themselves over everything
over and over
brush-strokes and rocking waves
major chords and mynah birds
inversions of words and melodies
walking through houses and under trees
days spent in the wake of seeing you
every grin rippling forever outward
every plant along the path on fire
every fire right on time
i dreamed i kissed you
i woke up after dark and went outside and walked
lushly
light as a kind of liquid
touching
time felt as a kind of raining
it’s wonderful
leaves turning red in my field of vision
time turning gold in memory
soft gray light at all times of day
hips and eyes and curves in the road
find a flower in the echo of bright lights
slow dissolve between distinct moments
wonder, fill a dynamic sky
with singing and heartbeats and babies and listen:
thinking of seven plus or minus two things
count beats and court, conversing
the night does night-things slowly
sharply-defined shadows
and fuzzy foxes
it's mostly intuitive
it's mostly out of our hands
it’s mostly you’re so pretty
it’s mostly i’m in love with you
it’s mostly what do you say?
it’s mostly we’re very much alive
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7. |
An Ocean of Air Above Us
05:44
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walking at night, i look up and see:
trees exploding in fiery bursts
golden bursts
brown and shaky
and some still green
lit from below
by orange streetlights
that are natural enough for me tonight
and i see
beyond the trees a sky running over
with deep-blue ink
and a nearly-full moon
clouds streaming and swimming past
there is an ocean of air above us
and the waves are crashing against everything
everything
standing on a bridge
i look down and see:
a hundred moons
maybe even a thousand moons
breaking up and chasing each other
on the moving surface of the water
on the surface of water that's moving
dancing over stones and tree roots
to pass not far from where you are
though you are far away tonight
your eyes catch the light
clouds shroud the moon
a hundred moons
maybe more
should i count them?
did you hear it?
can you feel me?
what's your hurry, water?
i close my eyes and see:
you, dancer
living over stones and tree roots
your face close to mine in sleep
mirrored in water and starlight
goodness and gracious
i have never known such timelessness.
i have never been so awake.
i have never been so sure.
(the moon will tell you my secrets.)
the wind will send us swooning.
the tide is high above our houses.
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8. |
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this craft is too small to be called a ship
the swans’ wings are made of honey and tissue paper
songs fill the air
to wed oneself to fire is not simple
it’s not simple
after the heat
bare feet on new blacktop, weaving between trees and fields
a single thread of sensation
woven into a pulsing, swaying, distracted mountain
of cascading sensations that spin around
an unmoving center
a great hall, a forest clearing
filled
with the cadence and inflections
of sweet girls’ voices
everything from every category
all of the above
i think
--except the thread is a sunset poured
and stretched into the shape and music of a river
and the mountain (with its cliffs and peaks)
moves into and out of existence
sometimes here, sometimes there
that’s how evening comes
the shade that pools and jumps around at our feet
sometimes here, sometimes there
very often extremely happy
i have arrived to begin the very serious work
of taking apart a small number of roses
to learn how they are built
(though not how they are made)
and then to start building many new roses
if i am still with enough buoyancy
if i dance with enough concentration
the pattern will become clear
and next, with limited means and material
with limited means and material
(wood, beeswax, kisses, relative major keys,
entire galaxies, flowers picked by little girls,
sawdust, green, joy, flowers picked by little boys)
i will get to work (that’s why i’m here)
everything bears repeating, all of this until we’re gone
flowers picked by little girls, that’s why i’m here
this craft is too small to be called a ship
the swans’ wings are made of honey and tissue paper
songs fill the air
to wed oneself to fire is not simple
the sky is a vault of stars
my heart is a vault full of roses
my mind visits again and again
sensations that accumulate and culminate in love
most important and most constant
and still
but still
it passes into and out of existence
sometimes here, sometimes there
very often extremely happy
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9. |
If Time Permits
03:43
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an embarrassment of riches
all those summers and Christmases and gusts of wind
now, as then, a gang of runaway elephants
we should try harder
though symmetry eludes
we should exceed some of this
but where will we raise our circus tents?
i don’t want our children growing up in a forest-fire
or dancing on plains with insufficient wind
or being bored
i’m happiest
on a tightrope
studying the architecture inside a piano
and memorizing every sacred text
upon which hands and eyes can be laid
in the midst of all of this, a quiet thought quietly emerges:
this is not lonely work
we are drunk at sea
we invent things to fill the air
and it doesn’t matter when we fall
leaves and words cover us all
we are elephants, great and small
weather, with me
and the spirit of the law
we are lusty seas with shaky knees
we invent wings to fill the air
and we’ll never need or seek permission
taking live wolves apart mid-stride
and putting them back together on the beat
mechanizing for repeat performances
complex plays and arrays of light
ready for the show to start
are you lusty, incandescent love?
what’s your latin name? where do these stairs go? are you free?
now it’s time to sing
so pretend to whisper in a baby’s ear
every stanza, dance, kiss and dream
and falling calling leaf
carried away by those fast-moving clouds above the lake
one more surge of wind
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10. |
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me and josephine down by the schoolyard
these are things we remember
grab that river and don’t let go
push the moon in a carriage
‘cross the sky
make a fist
make a face
make a feast
repeat if desired (repeat if desired)
me and caroline down by the seaside
smarter and smarter and pretty, too
open windows and sing us songs
open mouth and name the planets
open eyes and grow big and grow bigger and grow
hug hard and ask too many questions
(you stay close-by)
ah, ah (me and tilly walking through the forest)
me and teddy walking to the circus
walking slow with hocus and pocus
where night meets day
we’re gonna play
bring you cookies and bring you books
cross summer with winter
call big sister honey
and take lots of pictures
of my little sister dancing
with you on her hip
(i’m glad you’re all here
it’s so good you’re all here)
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11. |
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how can something so important be present and absent at the same time?
and how will we keep track of everything we need to remember for such a long time?
i sing along with your laughing eyes and your deep breath and so much ti-i-i-i-ime
there are moments every year that come around and feel like this feel like this feel like this feel like
there are moments every day that ring all the bells in our bodies and town
good moments when i forget myself for a moment and then everything sounds so good
sing, girls! from the bottoms of your bellies
hear those bells those bells ringing all the way around us
taste the words you form, articulate kisses
sing, girls! you are fountains and lanterns, intransitive
swinging in
swaying in
moving trees
so play in the breeze
drink in light between night and day
oh, bell bottoms and bottoms of bells
bliss
these kisses important and feelings so fleeting and strong
enveloped in softness
like brushing past leaves in an orchard
or an orchestra
after it’s rained
my twisted halo and your floating lightbulb
an ocean of sparks
tom toms rolling
clouds when you move me like this
move me ‘cross rooms and skies until i feel endless
and make it seem so effortless
there’s nothing i know of feels better than this
forty-one point one five degrees north
not even halfway to the top
we could stretch miles and miles of canvas
and always and never touch the ground around us
aurora means dawn
corona means crown
rolling around in the sky
here comes the sun, here she comes, here she comes!
now time is really gonna take off
all we can do is hold on for as long as we can
i stayed on the beach so long
i don’t remember why i was so scared
so much easier to count stars and waves
when my feet don’t touch the bottom
lost in those clouds
so long in the sky
looking around
step out onto the forest dancefloor
let’s explore our our new continent
and leisurely rain wherever we want to
and i always want to
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12. |
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see that sliver of late red light?
the clouds and trees and city work tirelessly to form a prism
and we watch the red-shift in real time
as the land rises to block the sun
and give rest to retinas and leaves
o, perfect watchmakers!
o, sleepy observers!
record with astronomical precision
the sounds and dimensions
of the ceaseless surf
on hallowed shores
we are safe, we are nestled:
between slow appalachia,
bathtubs left by glaciers,
cretaceous seabeds
and a blanket of oxygen, nitrogen and cirrus vapor
i walk well-loved paths with my sister and brother
we hope for wind, snow, babies and centuries
we are trees in each other’s churches
someday we’ll leave footprints in volcanic ash
and in interglacial snow
our delicate, intricate signatures
in sacred text lasting seconds or eons
asserting our permanence in proper, cosmic terms
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Infinity Girls Cleveland, Ohio
Infinity Girls are an experimental rock group formed in 2000 and headquartered more or less in Cleveland, Ohio.
(band photo: Mary Ann Winters)
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