Released June 2014
The Elephant party is a celebration of hard work and what it means to wonder what you might be like when you grow up. It's a love story about moving location and moving your mind. It is about the differences in the people around you and how it all makes the stories in your life more exciting. It's about mortality and losing parts of yourself. The elephants are dancing on the bureaucrats and listening to the sounds of distant trains. This record was recorded between May 2013 and June 2014.
Inside These Things
She took a class
3 days downtown
every week she went
she learned how
to build a brick
to use to build a tent
and inside the bricks were paper dolls
who lived in china town
and inside the tents were hoola hoops wrapped around these clowns
the circus is leaving Gilbert town
and going to the ocean
falling down the wishing well
i bought you all the horses
her toes were crossed
and mystified
that i could bake some baking
the cakes outside were cooling off
the children were just waking
Street Worms
10 feet down
under my feet
in a fancy sweater vest
under the street
10 feet down
but 400 feet long
waiting with patience
singing a made up song
street worms travel
from here to the trees
picking apart your arguments
what this town should be
5 feet down
he smells your feet
creeping with old thoughts
of what it is to eat
5 feet down
500 feet long
waiting under train stations
stealing someone's songs
don't kill the street worms
cover up your heads
if you hate the street worms
they'll fucking kill you dead
coiled around your legs
eating up your feet
he wants you inside him
and underneath your feet
Monkey Bars
I walk in your houses
and put your things in my pockets
and never tell you that
i completely understand
i draw circles in your palms
and walk on my toes
grip tightly your stories
and sleep with your clothes
10, 20, 30, 40
Step foot Step Foot Right
Step foot step foot Left
Right
i'll stop as much as i can
and chase down these paper ghosts
filling up these envelopes
with gifts to my favourite
i'll fall deep in your wrinkles
and build a room to keep things
that were left on my doorstep
play with me forever
and i will never let go
of the things that make sense
like crawl space infinity
and when you invented this dance.
Elephant Party
Please send that letter home
i'm sewing up these socks
i'm weeding out the weeds
and stacking up these blocks
there's a special glue I use
I keep it on the shelf
away from outlaw's hands
who might jeopardize their health
a birthday in a week she said
will bring the neighbors out
and fill them up with kool-aid
and fill up all these mouths
there's a digital clock beside your picture
on the top of some mountain somewhere
the alarm is set for every time
you forgot you won the tricycle awards
and cover up your knees again
to show that it's ended
I'll bite my lips and bite your hips
until he folds up paper elephants
Tongue Depressor
I saw the people cleaning out the windows
sitting in deck chairs and talking to themselves
i saw a million people out today
i'm waiting to sing something to all of them
she said she might teach me how
when the people get out of the pool
sun dried and sliding home on mud
and there is something written on your arms
no one has shouted anything at me from cars in a very long time
i'm waiting in my basement
think i must be doing something wrong
remember when i packed my things
and went out to find you years ago
you were the hand in my pocket the whole time
and when i found out i went too slow
there is still some hope for the rest of us
inside the inside of my cheeks
everything tastes so good
good enough to light this dog on fire
i'm going to do some gardening
you gave that to me
and i'll try to forget today's date
and this was the way i happened to be
Boxing Match
a telescope was pointed at the moon
and she was sitting on a swing in the room
i cared so much if people saw it
that i put it in a bread bag
closed the top when people started
to forget the things we had
fluorescent lights are a bad idea
in schools and shopping malls
snap your fingers for these people
piles of books and feathers
i guessed her age
i weighed myself
and watched a boxing match
i flew a plane
and i knit a scarf
and i put your diaries in a stack
\i never knew how much i knew
until she came to town
she drew the lines on the road
and never made a sound
Tie One On
where's the money
the man was screaming
she didn't know or care
he was everyone she had ever met
and he was standing everywhere
he pulled apart the sewer drains
looking for the dreams
there was no world underneath
when everyone could see
there's a box it takes coins
and it animates her mind
the cut out people dance in place
there is animals of every kind
he pulled the front off looking for something
people have all made up
the dancing people were torn to shreds
and could never again get up
Spider
I've got the legs of a spider
I'm hanging on inside her
I know myself
I know I'm here
I've got the legs of a spider
Catching Up
It's been a strange night
i'm going to take a ride
i want to close my eyes
i want to be outside
i rode with you in cars
i walked with you in stars
there's nothing we could talk about
that would change these events
we were dead skin
blowing in the dead wind
collecting inside her eyes
and washed out when he cries
i sat on the dirt
and counted backwards from 40
collected all my magazines
and didn't know how to tell you stories
i'm always catching up to you
and running 3 feet behind
trying on nothing new
and always missing these signs
Snakes
He smoothed down a towel
and put some chapstick on
feeling like a racecar
on a journey to the sun
there's nothing in this trunk
until i want there to
I'll sell a thousand questions
and fix you up some stew
the fire feels warm
thats not a surprise
there's tuna here inside this
and my friend is in disguise
i'll gather up a crowd
and test out all the corks
you won't leave with nothing
this time i am sure
the dust is in my eyes again
i fell down at someone's feet
at least i make a living
and roll along the street
Glued Together
It's exploding again
wishing for something to start again
he's falling down the hills
not knowing where to send
stitching up your clothes
and walking to the stores
you never gave up this shoe
just asking for more and more
i'm letting this one sit
on a shelf for a bit
or i'll have another fit
and i'm really sick of it
scraping off the rocks on the road
and using them to feel alright
there's something crawling up this wall
there's always something here tonight
two days with no food in me
dreaming about the puzzles in me
and wishing you were here
so you could believe what you could see
my fingers are glued together
it's not from what you think
my fingers are squeezed together
a pinhole in this sink
i could get up if it was for you
otherwise i'll stay in bed
with the coldest feet in the world
and an arm thats mostly dead
Scrap Book
it was that day again
i didn't have any plans
i'll sit with you on tree stumps
and kiss both your hands
talking backwards and slowed down
she told me how she feels
and falling through time
nothing here is quite this real
she sees time
and faces in the trees
she speaks to lamp posts
and knows how to dress me
i'm the one who loves that smell
taking over the scrapbook pages
lying to someone's parents
lying down with you for ages
let's talk about the boat i built
i sailed across the street
i made shadow puppets on your face
and played with you and let you cheat
i played with shadow puppets on your face
she sees the insides
of baby bees eyes
she speaks to crossed fingers
and knows how to be alive
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