1. |
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On the Other Side of the Window
The lifting crane,
the crowded train,
the slap of glue,
the rendezvous.
The pavement laid,
the payment made,
the traveled mile,
the answered smile.
Out there on the other side of the window.
Out there on the other side of the window.
the letter mailed,
the job that failed,
the great success,
the warm caress.
Out there on the other side of the window.
Out there on the other side of the window.
What was your intention? (repeated)
The building lot,
the cultish plot,
the conference room,
the bride and groom.
Cross-eyed seer.
Van Goghish listener.
Insulated toucher.
Mute-buttoned talker.
(shoe shod shambler)
What was your intention?
What was your invention?
What was your contention?
What was your convention?
What was your dimension?
What was your
—Don’t mention it!
The lifting crane,
the crowded train,
the slap of glue,
the rendezvous.
Out there on the other side of the window.
Out there on the other side of the window.
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2. |
Good Design
04:52
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Good Design
Form and function follow purpose,
purpose formed in shape and line.
It results from your intention,
intent defined in your design.
Make a mark on your blank paper,
take a look at what you’ve found.
If it fails, then start all over.
Over all, your design is sound.
Over all, your design is sound.
Take a pencil, make a drawing,
drawing on what we’ve discussed.
Good design requires planning,
and plans require hope and trust
—and a little bit of future.
Every plan presumes there’s time to reach an outcome.
Why design a future if I’m living without one?
Nothing gets designed when I’m feeling resigned.
Lots of factors offer input.
Put ’em in perspective and let ’em combine.
Subject it all to distillation.
Then what’s left is your design
—and a little bit of future.
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3. |
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I’m Here
(Secular Prayer #1)
In Times Square I sing a song
to the people passing by:
I’m here.
You’re there.
Late at night I sing a song
to the empty hallway stairs:
I’m here.
You’re there.
On the phone I sing a song
to the people I love:
I’m here.
You’re there.
On the train I sing a song
to the travelers underground:
I’m here.
You’re there.
With my friends I sing a song
in three-part harmony:
I’m here.
You’re there.
We’re here.
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4. |
How To
07:13
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How To
Fold along the dotted line,
tab A fits in slot 9
like your hand fits in mine.
Turn the gasket to the right,
secure it good and tight,
like when you say goodnight.
I have been hunting high and low
for the instructions that
might show
me how to build a birch bark canoe,
or a life here with you.
I just want to know how to.
My instruction manual
is written by our years of gestures, each a clue.
Look me in the eye and then just follow directions
and you too can know how to.
On page two-hundred and nineteen,
at the top there’s a diagram
marked figure four twenty-three.
Multiply the vector of my gesture
and just add the end result
to all the crazy things I’ve done,
and all the crazy things I meant to do.
By this formula we’ll muddle through,
and construe how to.
I must say I have to doubt
that you could figure out
what we are all about.
Just remember it was planned,
we moved at fate’s command
when you first held my hand.
Fate or volition, I don’t know
how to decode the ebb and flow
that draws us near
and pulls us apart,
shapes us each, mind and heart.
I just want to know how to.
Close your eyes
and then you’ll view
the map from me to you,
the answer to how to.
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5. |
Distance
06:35
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Distance
I can barely remember trees
blowing softly in the breeze.
Based on my calculations
and well-informed evaluations,
I should be there soon,
or the moon’s not lunar.
I think it’s OK to be on my way away.
Turn around, and see how far
I’ve come.
Finite increments elapse;
gauges, dials, and maps.
Read out the specifications,
and watch the universe collapse (expand).
Distance, like a lot of defining measures,
offers arcane pleasures
to the statistician in our hearts.
Hold me closer, closer, closer,
closer still.
Now let me go.
There, in between release and hold,
time stands still a while, and then grows old.
High in the sky
stars exemplify
how hard it is to reply.
Antique starlight shines on me now.
Light years further back, where it came from,
new light is starting out.
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6. |
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Tea Time
(Secular Prayer #4)
Here’s my teapot.
It’s not so short or stout.
It helps me figure out my life.
When I’m uncertain, doubting the worth of me,
pour me a cup of tea.
Let’s go, pekoe
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7. |
Phantom Limb
04:01
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Phantom Limb
Out on a limb he sits and saws away,
cutting off all his contact with the trunk, the tree, the roots.
And as his saw cuts through, he starts to fall.
Leaves sigh as they spin around.
The wind blows.
The branch descends, it arcs and twirls.
He holds, he floats and falls; they’re plummeting down.
When they land, if they land,
they’ll know how to fly.
Feel my phantom limb
as it reaches out
to hold your hand,
your phantom hand.
Hear my phantom limb
make a phantom fist
that knocks and knocks upon your door.
See my phantom limb
as it points the way
back home from here,
back to your phantom home.
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8. |
Self Portrait
04:07
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Self Portrait
Miscommunication
and Mystery were wed,
and their miscegenation
made every word I’ve said.
Similes and comparisons;
words in other words,
in other words—and other words;
a sketch of what I meant to mean.
All my casual comments
can accrue in complicated ways,
Like a close-up benday abstract
that resolves into a face.
(As I walked out
on the streets of my city,
I spied on some spies
who were spying on me.)
The timid hesitation
always has a reservation here.
Knock on my front teeth
and maybe you’ll draw it out.
Draw some blood.
Draw a crowd.
Draw a breath.
Draw conclusions.
Draw a portrait of me.
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9. |
Out Here
04:44
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Out Here
Get from that terminal head
to this place.
Face thee cabooseward the whole rattled ride.
We’ll get you settled,
whatever it takes.
Sweet recline by eventide.
Green adirondacks right-angle the lake.
Draw the last sun rays down
bottles of wine.
Now the hours shiver down
dismal degrees.
Plastic bags return to their homes in the trees.
I’m not moving, even if I turn blue,
waiting on you.
Out here there’s nothing
to hide us.
At home right under them stars.
All we’ll need’s right here
beside us.
Ain’t no fun alone.
Get out here… it’s all ours.
Bring me a present,
accountable trace
of all that we built,
all we are hereupon.
I’m itching for something
I can’t hardly place.
It’s probably gone.
Probably gone.
Out here it’s silence and hex signs,
old songs, and deep reverie.
Milestones marking off the “last times.”
Everything is wrong.
Get out here and save me.
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10. |
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Seem the Same
(Secular Prayer #5)
Things may seem the same,
but they’re never the same.
Never again who, what, or why they were.
Carry your little awareness like a candle
as you go room into room, out the door,
block after block, and beyond.
A line, not a circuit; one way, only one.
Pushed and blinded by the heavy hands of time.
I’ll go with you for a while. Can’t I go with you?
I’m as happy as I have a right to be.
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11. |
Grip
04:29
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Grip
Grab a hold (hold, hold).
Hold on for dear life.
Where’d that handle go?
Get a grip,
or you’ll slip,
and go down.
Take a look (look, look).
Look out left and right,
and above and below.
From all sides,
it collides
and comes down.
Holding still, still holding
holding pattern,
waiting like the rings of Saturn.
Waiting to coalesce or disperse,
not knowing if I’m in forward
or reverse.
Take it in (in, in).
In case it’s encased,
keep it well contained,
or spill the cup,
’cause what goes up
must come down.
Let it go (go, go).
Let go for dear life.
If you can, let loose.
Let it slip,
or you’ll grip
and go down.
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12. |
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13. |
Pastorale
03:52
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David Garland New York, New York
Composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist David Garland has been steadily shaping songs in new ways since
1980.
"Like many great songwriters before him, Garland pushes the limits of acceptable harmony and dissonance, yet never at the expense of beauty. If it's not possible for popular music to reach the heights of the great classical masters, it seems no one has told David Garland."
--Sean Lennon
... more
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