|
Original Sin
Sentences sweet as honey:
the loneliness of politics.
& words bitter as poison:
the politics of loneliness.
& this is my typewriter--it ain't yours.
I don't believe in original sin.
My grandfather on his deathbed,
he pressed some coins into my hand,
but when I looked they were directions--
a history of life & love
inked upon my wrinkled palm.
Now, I don't believe in original sin,
but I knew all his regrets then.
& I am so afraid that I won't understand your poetry.
_________________________________________
Credit
Jacob Eli Goldman - Rhodes, mellotron, piano, drums, bass guitar, shaker, tambourine, hand claps
Noah Goldman - electric guitar, pedal steel, tambourine, hand claps
Chris Listorti - electric guitar
Alex Mazzaferro - voice, acoustic guitar, tambourine, hand claps
|
|
Tow-Headed Boy (Achluophobia)
My mind, all violence like electric rain outside the window's view.
When a revelation rattles you, parallels paralyze.
Oh, things are equally wrought of acid & alkali.
& I'm back,
a tow-headed boy,
crippled by fear in his bed,
dizzied by the spin of the world again.
I was struggling to untie my knotted guts.
It shook me to my very roots in my pitch-black room overnight.
But [I know,] "there's nothing there in the dark
that isn't there in the light."
[Still I] sleep with the television on,
wading through the snowstorm fuzz.
I was being chased through the streets by my nightmare nerves,
in the throes of fever tossed & turned
to the beat of old Death's whispered words;
a writhing black cloud descends & envelopes the earth.
& I'm back,
a tow-headed boy,
crippled by fear in his bed,
dizzied by the spin of the world again.
Except now,
it's my bourgeois blues,
my pawn shop soul, & the nightly news
that keep me screaming.
_________________________________________
Credit
Jacob Eli Goldman - drums, shaker, bass guitar, synthesizer
Noah Goldman - electric piano, Rhodes, pedal steel, piano
Alex Mazzaferro - voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synth strings, tambourine, television
|
|
A Nervous Whistle To Keep My Courage Up
I walked through the nighttime air.
The moon let out a howl after holding its breath,
& in the streets, it smelled of cinder & ash,
& I could feel the fear worming its way into my chest.
But I pressed on, marching rank & file,
concealed my soldier's shakes beneath apocryphal smiles
& hummed a tune my mama sang to me as a child:
something constant to hold on to amidst the salvo & fire.
& when I find you,
you're bruised like a fallen peach,
but you're so sweet--so much good underneath.
& so I'll dust you off on my shirtfront
& roll up my sleeves.
You'd do the same for me.
Well I made my way to the center of things
with buildings crashing down & a choir of screams.
The roaring lions, shrieking sirens were deafening,
& I was doubled over with a hunger so deep--
an aching to return to a home I don't have
& for a way to make a living [that] don't get blood on my hands.
Then I pulled my collar close in counterfeit confidence
& pursed my lips in hymn & braved those tea kettle blasts.
Alarums sound underwater, the searing napalm blaze...
The infantry was mustered beneath a mustard gas haze.
& soon my palms were pressed tight over a small scarlet stain
& with madness all around I sang as the frame began to fade away.
& when you find me,
I've turned like the autumn leaves,
blooming crimson color
descending to the deep.
but you'll gather me back together again--
get this broken boy to mend.
[You're all I've got:] a nervous whistle to keep my courage up.
_________________________________________
Credit
Jacob Eli Goldman - bass guitar, drum loop, modular synthesizer patch, synth bass, thingamagoop
Noah Goldman - electric guitar, effects
Alex Mazzaferro - voice, electric guitar, mellotron, Rhodes, piano, drum loop, adding machine, marching bass drum, acoustic guitar, whistle
Wil Mulhern - drums
|
