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1. |
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Vulture in a Desert of Men
The black blood, sticky
Catches your eye, like a ciggy
You’re in No-Man’s-Land again
The blank Sun, grinning
The blank Earth, spinning
As your hands come off the bars
The black-soled city
Stamps you out, like a ciggy
Onto No-Man’s-Land again
The black wings, opened
Never flapping, frozen
O’er a desert of men
Saint in black
Flick your ash into Hell’s Canyon
Stain your mask
That you stashed in holy trash can
Soar in slow rings
Come to clear the old things
Make them new again
Dead-eyed, high you flew
Their disgust disguised you
In plain sight they hid you
Sit upon that star
Make a night in shadow now
Tattoo your silhouette there
Cast it on the ground
Curse the burning day
Volt and volta same
Carrion to kiss
Clarion muted hiss
The black night, snoring
The blank mind, soaring
In the wasteland of the sky
Deserted city
None to name it windy
When it’s No-Man’s-Land again
Saint in black
Sing the sky out of the violence
Paint us back
To the night before our science
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2. |
Luna Mirage
05:10
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Luna Mirage
Summer life strung on the edge of a knife
While the porch light flutters outside
Buzzing free, new butterflies and bees
Cut the dead steam, float the old queen
That one night I left the door open wide
Perfect Day cranked on the late-wave, while
Lost and found drained all my dreamings down
When they blew out, something flew 'round
Silently, just as Toulouse’ fairy
Fluttered to me, hovered facing
This no bird, nor a mirage — absurd
I’m not dreaming, nor deceiving
Lift me up, you lambent bug, and
Fly me out with you
Paint false eyes onto my sides
Recoloring the truth
Hollow days emptied into the change
Juno’s nones raged, Luna’s tones caged
Perfect night, trace me along your sky
Pull me outside, keep me at your height
Seven days you only wake for
Swimming with the moon
That one night you held my life
I whisper back to you
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3. |
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Puijila Plays in the Mirrored Morning
I watched the sun burn into those crags last night
And the green aura hung aurora high
I remember what I tried to give up
The sand, snow, and seaweed below me
As I wander back there,
where the drone siren wove
An idea swam at the stove,
and the Irish hours before
I sang to the Charcoal Islands,
where the golden timepiece hung
I watched the sun frost the tide today
I thought I saw a pup swimming this way
Was I just remembering my own mutt, far away?
Or the dream of the fossils below me?
Where hot-blooded fishers,
where the drone siren wove
May still be trolling this cove
in the mirrored morning, I know
They land on the Charcoal Islands,
where I landed once
I watched the sun burn,
and by morning it sung,
“I’m sorry the winter was long”
And it asked me to come back to now
And remember what’s still swimming below me
Old gray mermaid, is this where you rove?
Do you go to the Charcoal Islands,
Where you swam right up to me,
Rose up to my height
You ask me “who?” or “why?”
I watched someone jump into the waves again
Someone who shares something of my ways
I remember how you walked to give up
The sand and snow for the seaweed here below me
And yet wandered back there,
where the drone siren wove
To puzzle me over, then dove
like you'd never seen us before
Among the Charcoal Islands,
where you might be home
I watched Sunday burn,
and by Monday I’m gone
I knew that I couldn’t stay long
Thick-skinned, but flat-footed
I remember you rising from below me
O holy destiny,
is this where I’ll go,
where the drone siren wove?
Should I go to the Charcoal Islands
Would I steal you as a sign,
Go where I’m unknown?
And you asked me “when?” or “why?”
I watched the sun burn out of the sky last night
I remember what I spied below me
And I wander back there
Where the drone siren wove
I go to the Charcoal Islands,
where the Golden Hours hung
I watched the sun burn, here below me
There, on the Charcoal Islands
I remember now,
where the drone siren wove
I watched the sun
I watched the sun
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4. |
Who Cooks for You?
07:16
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Who Cooks for You?
O restless body, O fearsome night
Who awakens, now, to this height?
Inside they’re calling your name
In questions falling from the trees
Our namesake’s same soliloquies
While you were turning your head
Night blew through instead
O wailing boughs here, O winding wind
Snaking through these lifetimes, who’re stretching thin
They’re singing too, in their way
As vague as answers pluck the weeds
In gameless playing, we begin to weave
In nameless, changing needs
Night whispers to you
In the mondegreens of our native tongue
That are spoken in the thicket’s strum
And the crooked branches hollow hum
All are finally named just as they are sung
O dreaming body, O restless night
Who awakens now to this height?
O that dreaming could give flight
In lucid visions leaping at the trees
In trusting you remember to believe
The shadow world that now is dreaming me
Night dances in the leaves
They have a name for this hour
Those who say they see in the dark
Now I’ve brought back these dusty wings for now
And the ones from under grandpa’s bark
Here we’ve lately planted and plucked the vines
The sun had dropped in pieces, the leaves laid in signs
While you read aloud the strangest brew
While I sip the song of violet hue
Here I’ve sunken into the mountain with the dew
Even as the sun is yet consumed
Do you hear an answer in these coos?
Echoing to ask us, “Who cooks for you?”
They have a name for this power
That which was planted in our hands this hour
A language we have heard but never sung
Floating from the branches hung above
O, rest this body, fly this mind
Who’ll awake me now from the flight?
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5. |
Pardic Hymn
04:37
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Pardic Hymn
Looking for a place to setup camp
as the desert sun winked
up the side of the Mesa
the mouth of a cave seemed to breathe, beckoning
With guitar and whiskey jar,
blanket and faithful dog,
I approached and ducked in
A silence hung, so I ventured a call
to warn or ask permission
my voice hung about the walls,
revealing their shape
And just when it seemed there'd be no answer
I felt the silence was bait,
that the emptiness had weight,
even a name...
~
The Ancients' tome, the bestiary
that scaped the goat out of mystery
gave a face to the legends told
The mottled pard
that sneered and snarled
a mythic howl
they warned us
that it could be hiding in the dark
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A rustling just beyond the turn ahead
could it be a mountain lion?
they are known to still prowl near
should I trust in confidence or fear
And just then, someone growled clear
"Who's in here?"
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The legends laid the lioness
with the mythic pard
from spirit spawned the sciences
a bastard borne out of sin
and so given spots
to shame him, a leopard
And yet that same tome
said they could be gentle
chase the evil away
keep us safe
keep us safe
Instinct wants to name the fear
much better off if I know
what kind of beast is in here
and when will it show?
Who's there?
is that you?
using my voice?
No answer
No sound
Still I fear
or I hear
it drawing closer
The Ancients named the beast
And so made it real
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6. |
Jack of Spades
07:02
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Jack of Spades, Jack of Diamonds
Queen of Hearts, and King of Clubs
Jack of Trades, that drew my choices
That proved to make my luck
I went up to see my mother
I went down to see my kin
Where I’m here and there and everywhere
Wild into the wind
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Dress me up in sins of diamonds
Dress me down then go all in
Well then cast 'em toward my fortune
Go knockin' for your gin
Heart of man, friend of darkness
Keep your cards close to your chest
You went up, then you went sideways
Stacked your coins against the deck
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Wicked Luck, Lady Tarot
Keep your cards, I’ll buy your bluff
Fifty bucks to curse the bored game
Now I think I’ve paid enough
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Call me out, call me crazy
I’ve committed now to call
Double-blind, I’m holding Jokers
Burnt the hearts before the fall
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As it turns, the rolling River
I learn to love the hand I’m dealt
Since I’d rather lose the Jackson
Then never held the felt
So one night, away from anger
I saw a ghost I called a cat
I called him close, I called him neighbor
As he turned raccoon or Jack
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7. |
Red Blues
05:00
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Red Blues
Maybe you're better off this way
where the trees don't hide you anymore
and the raindrops keep on fallin'
but they slide right off the roof
Looks like you're mostly out of the woods
Or maybe you'd be better off without me
And you'd finally be out running wild again
You'd make your escape for the open range
Our bond wouldn't break
but at least you'd be unchained
And now when you're lyin' alone
Thinkin' 'bout diggin' the same damn hole
Or crawlin' out on the loose...
Yeah I guess you've been well-fed
Never had to scratch your own head
But then you never got to choose...
Seems like all dogs get the blues
I wonder if it spread from me to you
Or maybe I'm misreadin' the clues
but it makes me wanna howl at the moon
Maybe I've got it too...
Maybe it was my mistake
to domesticate you after all
while the forest keeps on callin' you
from just beyond the fence
Hey, but at least I gave you food
I threw you a bone and a frisbee
And I walked you all around in circles
I took away from the open range,
your scavenging days
when you were covered in mange
And now when I'm lyin' alone
diggin' myself in the same damn hole
eschewin' old human news
Sure I guess I've been well-fed
even while I'm scratchin' my head
and letting you eat my shoes...
Seems like we all get the blues
I wonder if it spreads from me to you, sometimes
or maybe I'm misreadin' the clues
but it makes me wanna howl at the moon
maybe I've got it too...
<chorus>
It's about time that I thanked you
for your compromise
And I'll try not to pity you
for your big sad eyes
And I'm sorry 'bout the silly sweater
But you know you've always made my life better
And I hope to do the same for you...
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Ben Hjertmann Asheville, North Carolina
Composer
Vocalist
Multi-Instrumentalist
Just Intonation
Microtonal Folk
Experimental-Indie
benhjertmann.com
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