from ORPHEUS IN THE ATTIC

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Miss America 

Miss America lapses in and out of consciousness

As she floats down the catwalk

She often sleepwalks

Her dreams are diminished

Her kisses are no longer free

She works the seedy side of reality TV

Her pimp owns the pageant  

He wears a bronze mask

His platinum blond hair 

Shimmers under the hot TV lights

He states that he’ll kill, deport or jail

All the shadows in his way

The headlines are depressing

The news of despair is everywhere

Gossip, rumors and innuendo rule

Our dreams are diminished

No one buys our kisses, and nothing is free

Here on the seedy side of reality TV

White Cloud

I examine a photo of a ragged child,

Holding a ragged doll

In Arabic, her name means “White Cloud”

She is just five years old

She is a refugee from Aleppo

In a filthy camp, she cries out

In thunder and rain

In tragedy and pain

Here in another zone

In the valley of the green mountains

I hear the blackbirds squawk and moan

They mimic hawks and humans

Some say they guide the living and the dead

Out of the shadows

Beyond the thunder and the rain

Beyond the tragedy and the pain

We Dance in the Dark

for Judy Garland

I put on an old mask that matches my worn shoes

And make my way up the mountain

To where only the fog blooms

Her ruby slippers still fit when she died of a drug overdose

In a London hotel, triumphant and alone  

We dance in the dark, here in this garden of stone

Father Berrigan Floats on a Cloud

Father Berrigan floats on a cloud
Like a wizard, he watches us from above
As a boy, I carried the news of wars
Along with the baseball stats and scores

I saw a photo of a Buddhist monk on fire
I read about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir 
Father Berrigan floats on a cloud
Like a wizard, he watches us from above

I Ride with Ghosts

I unhook the stars from my neck

And let myself go, I descend, I ride with ghosts 

I roll and tumble into the unknown 

I parted company with the others in Tangiers 

I miss them so much 

I crossed the desert in the dark 

I tried to sing but it hurt too much 
My throat was parched from sleeping in the sun 

Back then, I would trade all the light

Of the world for water 

I trudged through the dust and haze

Of an ancient continent 

I remember my brothers 

I think of my sisters 

I unhook the stars from my neck and let myself go  

I descend, I ride with ghosts 

The Eighth of December (The Death of John Lennon)

 

It was the eighth of December

This is what I remember

This is what they said

John Lennon had been shot

John Lennon was dead

It could have been George C Scott

It could have been anyone

But a psycho with a gun

Had snuffed out the sun

Yoko took to her bed

John Lennon was dead

It was the eighth of December

That is what they said

This is what I remember

John Lennon had been shot

John Lennon was dead

January in Minnesota (John Berryman)

Snow enshrouds the Mississippi 

January in Minnesota

The world is silent and white

He dreams of Florida

He dreams deep into the night

The ocean beckons like a mistress

He longs for a kiss

He once had a plan 

But he failed as a pilot 

And fell as a man

The world is silent and white

He dreams deep into the night

January in Minnesota 

The ocean beckons like a mistress,

He longs for a kiss 

He once had a plan

But he failed as a pilot 

And fell as a man

This Ghost Town

Nero was born in this ghost town

And with just one eye

Watched the world die

I see a rider on the horizon

He rides a dark horse

He’s a stranger, he’s way off course

The mob outside my window makes do

With a hangman’s noose

They devour lies

There’s darkness in their eyes

Someone blows a lonely horn

Everything is smashed, our hearts are torn

We're locked in a box with no key

No one is true, no one is free

Black Coat & Tails (If Looks Could Kill)

Like a magician he's up to his old tricks
Another show another fix
His heart's in a box
Bound by a thousand and one locks
His world is whirling and about to tilt
The knives are in all the way to the hilt

He'd let them go but he doesn't know how
If looks could kill, he'd be a ghost by now

From the shadows he calls out your name
Just one shot and you're back in the game
Your heart's in a box
Bound by a thousand and one locks
Your world is whirling and about to tilt
The knives are in all the way to the hilt
You'd let them go but you don't know how
If looks could kill, you'd be a ghost by now

Warhol at the Factory

He walks on water; he floats across the room

On the wall, his paint by number flowers bloom

He's one-part pornographer, two parts whore

(Billy Name hands out masks at the door)

Over there is a portrait of Chairman Mao

Hung next to a silkscreen of a floating cow

To the left are studies of Marilyn Monroe

And several images of Jackie O

A doctor makes his rounds

Brando and Elvis have lost a few pounds

Batman has somehow misplaced his cape

Ultra Violet accuses him of rape

They walk on water; they float across the room

On the wall, the paint by number flowers bloom

Syria (Rumors of War)

He sang a tune or two in a one-man band

Then hopped a train to a distant and nameless land

And in a boxcar, he heard someone say

‘You can’t take back what you never gave away’

There are rumors of war; there are holes in the sky

The dead line the roads but no one hears them cry

The living are throwing stones into an empty well

Their houses are bare; they have nothing left to sell

I hum along to a song that I know and understand

As I trudge toward that distant and nameless land

 And in the darkness, I hear someone say

‘You can’t take back what you never gave away’

This track is embedded with the friendly permission by the creatives on wikiloops.com.

Hiroshima

for Miyoko Mitsabara

I heard the whirring engines of a B-29
I glimpsed its wings and tail; a sign
Of foreboding filled the earth and the sky
With the terrifying message that all must die

I saw the shadow of the descending sword
After the flash, the heavens roared
I fell to the ground with my hands to my head
I awoke in the darkness and the dust of the dead

I ran toward my home, but I could never go back
Everything had changed; the sky was black
I went to the river to escape the flames
I saw bodies sink into graves without names

All around me were the broken pieces of mankind
Had the whole world lost its mind?
Out of the chaos came a voice I knew
Was this my friend? Could it be true?

Her face was swollen with slits for eyes
From behind charred lips came her cries
I was twelve years old when the A-Bomb hit
Just a child when that fuse was lit

I saw the shadow of the descending sword
After the flash, the heavens roared
I fell to the ground with my hands to my head
I awoke in the darkness and the dust of the dead

Paris (The Carousel)

for Louise Cowan

The carousel goes round and round
It goes up and down
It goes up and down

Children ride on white ponies
They go up and down
Airplanes could carry them higher
but they stay close to the ground

Refugees gather on the border
The lines are long
The children freeze in the camps
They say their prayers by kerosene lamps

The carousel goes round and round
It goes up and down
It goes up and down

Out in the desert, rockets flare
They go up and they go down
The go round and round
They go up and down

Along the canal, blue lights flash
The carousel goes round and round
Where children once rode white ponies
And stayed close to the ground

The carousel goes round and round
Where children once rode white ponies
And stayed close to the ground

The Lucky Ones

Someone saw a ghost sitting on the shore 
He was one of the lucky ones, he survived
He was one of the lucky ones when so many have died
He was one of the lucky ones, he survived

They are our mothers and fathers 
They are our sons and daughters
So many have died
The bombs fall; the rockets fly

We hear the children cry
Dressed in rags, they are the lucky ones, they survived
They are the lucky ones when so many have died
They are our sons and daughters

Someone saw a ghost sitting on the shore
She was one of the lucky ones, she survived
She was one of the lucky ones when so many died
She was one of the lucky ones, she survived

No More Games, No More Toys

for Damien Echols

A mother had a premonition
A mother had the chills
Three drowned boys
In the Robin Hood Hills
No more games, no more toys
For the boys
From the Robin Hood Hills

A mother had a premonition
A mother had the chills
One had a fractured skull,

Three drowned boys
In the Robin Hood Hills
The police targeted a teen
A false confession
Placed him at the scene
   

They said he wore black
They said his life was off track
They said his art was obscene
No evidence, no DNA, but a jury
Found him guilty
Of killing the boys
In the Robin Hood Hills  

  

He wishes he could sleep
He wishes he could go
But he's in too deep
There on Death Row
A mother had a premonition
A mother had the chills
Three drowned boys

In the Robin Hood Hills

UFOs (Ziggy Stardust to Major Tom)

I saw a spaceman in the park

I saw UFOs in the dark

I saw refugees on TV

I saw the vapor trail of a fighter jet cross the sky

I heard the wail of a mother cry

There are missiles hidden in the west

There are missiles hidden in the east

I saw mankind buried in the belly of a beast

I saw a spaceman in the dark

I saw a homeless man in the park

I saw refugees in the street  

I saw UFOs on TV

I saw the vapor trail of a fighter jet cross the sky

I heard the wail of a mother cry

There are missiles hidden in the west

There are missiles hidden in the east

I saw mankind buried in the belly of a beast

This track is embedded with the friendly permission by the creatives on wikiloops.com.

On a Horse Made of Snow

If this was the last word you ever heard

Would you give it back?

If this was the last song ever sung

Would you let it go?

Once there was a princess

Who rode on a horse made of snow

She searched for a lost dove

She searched for love

If this was the last song ever sung

Would you let it go?

If this was the last word you ever heard

Would you give it back?

Once there was a man who wore a black mask

He had a dark past

If this was the last word you ever heard

Would you give it back?

If this was the last song ever sung

Would you let it go?

If I took off the mask

Would you take me back?

If I told you the truth

Would you let me go?

Once there was a princess

Who rode on a horse made of snow.

If this was the last song ever sung

Would you let it go?

If I took off the mask

Would you take me back?