Work Text:
Dear listeners,
The snowcaps would rather not visit us
Desert dawns only bury the white with dust
Is the dark the best thing for brightest day?
A northern chill maybe, but who can say?
Strange breath shivers out of the weeds at night
Place by place, they'll win back their ancient right
To turn blind eyes to conspiracy, lethargy, hypocrisy
Be the blighted when nobody else is qualified.
When the earth splits in two with the weight of snow
You're sipping coffee out of a mug branded "I told you so"
Oh child, who said the whispering forest is to be feared?
Looking for a fairytale, we've none of those here.
For sanctuary, we'll cry when the time is right
An inky skyline won't paint our dismal kites
Ocean blue citizens, I know you will listen;
On to languages lurking by the ponds, and how they glisten
Your curvature bones are your sturdiest home
Knees knocking together, cigar smoke like sea foam
I'm against it, I'm against it, but I can't say why
Back to the demons, back to the sky.
Again you ask if the flowers will ever bloom
The answer is never unless you make room
Buses run roughshod over their roots
Stop it, let's not waste our time on the truth
Anywhere there's tangles there's wine, let's sit on the roof
The blindness was switched off with a dial
Wind gusted in invisible spirals
Blows led to words after a while
I'm
Back
Again after the break
I say I don't believe in angels, but that doesn't matter
Saw a dragon leave its carapace in tatters
A chrysalis split open in its wake
Helicopter yellow is highlighter-fake
Fly away on wings bent wrong and soiled
Towards the fraying edge of this mortal coil
An unknown person is scarier than I
Unfamiliar places come up just shy
Glow with power, it'll keep the nightmares at bay
In monsoon season I sleep in the rain
The windowsill isn't enough to let the cocoon fold
Evening vapors warm off my bottle, it floats away cold
Sky lines aren't drawn taut enough for my glasses
And I don't know what I'm feeling until it passes
All knowing is only a magician's monicker
The letters stained the glass in the cathedral
While witches protested against the ethereal
You were marking the calendars last time I saw you
Were you carrying a license, were you ocean blue?
Looking at me, citizens, I see no good fortune
At least my soul is entirely foreign
Me with my pinstripes, I feed you horror stories
With out stoic authors, it's getting quite gory
Your honeysuckle scent obscures your fear
Solar flares will sustain us for another year...
Eclipse the false moon with werewolf's filaments
Eye the sky, drink the clouds out of the firmament
Desert drums rattle away until half past one
Pacific time has done nothing for us
Octopi sand turns to occupied dust
How long did it take to learn how to nurture?
Long enough to forget it was your original nature
Did you trade your face again for the mask of the geisha?
You walk on eggshells until you get it back
Look in the mirror, you're the most suitable mask
For drums you might deign to learn a bit of morse code
Hidden languages always resist when you try to decode
Messages in bottles shatter and sink
In kimono-wrapped parcels and waves graced with pink
What cannibal ally have you wrought upon us?
I get down on my votive knees and pray what I must
Wrote pallid stories about fatal flaws
Part vice, part vex, part hex, part claws
Of crows calling nowhere, ruffling their feathers;
Me calling everywhere, we can do this together
Wishes hold power, if only for an hour
You whisper them, laying in bed, drained and dour
Never simple, never spelled exactly the way you want it
Really it's a secret, whether life is legend or myth
Stopped talking to my neighbors when I heard them singing their songs
You ripple and stomp, and you know that it's wrong
Never say never unless you are dying
Really it's a secret until you quit trying
Stopped up and walked on
I'm
Back
Again after the break
The daily drudge seeks drying blood
Desert craves liquid, or didn't you know, it
Is not a good winter if it weren't for the snow?
A broke budget can't pay the spectral bills
Lost the privilege of crying, and you know that it kills
Place holders can't be the best thing for blackest day...
They want green rainstorms lately, but who can say?
Built towers around the street lamps to ease the ghosts' doubt
Houses are haunted with signs scrawled "KEEP OUT"
Just children sing about how the nights get colder
In case they forget how to feel it once they get older
Time is nothing in the belly of a whale
To be ugly is to be everything here,
Collect my third eye with your patient stare
Our loving bottles and flasks held up against the night,
Precious pieces of glass, catching the light,
Lives don't end until they are shattered
On rusty red rocks left drying in the desert
Mantelpieces hold our heads, our heads hold our memories
All enveloped in buying milk and putting our seatbelts on
Over the radio we stage-whisper commands
Town life is half-truth until it's portrayed in different hands
I'm
Back
Again after the break
I work out the kinks with no little effort
Watch them unfurl, dancing on the horizon
The visions scurry into my line of sight
Holes in my consciousness lead to psychic's plight
In dreams we see only what we know
The reality of day is perceived just so
Skyline silhouettes cast their spells and
I'm
Back
Again after the break
I feel allegiance to my brother
Learned too late the name of my mother
I've glorified the sun day after day
Got weary of the moon wanting Her say
Such tired horses nose the desert sand
A disparate image in a despairing land
Big raindrops pound us into submission
Backpack zippers rip and break the transmission
And stop us hearing the news about the snow
It's once in a lifetime, let it go
Pulling on strings won't stutter our collective heart
Me, I loved every piece of the story (except for the start)
Down tree limbs, down brooks and everything we can't see
But listeners, for color and form we have no need
It's coffee and another drink before a night's rest
Kind of like when you say softly, "It's for the best"
Of everywhere, this is our home
Where stars tumble and sway over drunken dome
I whisper my thunder where others would scream;
Am a mumbler, murmurer, mutterer it seems
Now the birds' voices ring out clearer than mine
It's a penalty for wasting their time
Kind people lend stories
Of places they have been
Where stray dogs were silent,
I make my way in
Come one, come all and listen
From decades ago arrives nuclear fission
My skin is stone, gray and death-toned
Lips sewn shut lest the secrets still shout
Are you afraid all your love letters will spill out?
Sewn into this tapestry of monsoon and drought
Shut the door, shut your eyes, and then shut your mouth
I implore you to tilt your head to the left and squint;
Run for you, even though you can't see my shadow sprint
To ancient lands in better hands
Where heatwaves rising become marching bands
The plastic bags surely won't clog up your future
Stray threads fray and poke out of our sutures
Dogs lie and pant in the sun till it sets
Won't fight it, whisper softly, "It's for the best"
Find me if you forget me, I'm in every half-formed thought
Me, I can't decide where to go (the land or snow, the rich or the poor?)
Where indeed dear listeners, answer me before
The
Broadcast
Breaks
Off--
This has been.
Traffic.