1. |
Amelia
02:44
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Amelia was just fourteen and out of the orphan asylum
At her first job in the bindery
And Yes sir, Yes ma’am – oh, so anxious to please.
She stood at the table
Her blond hair hanging about her shoulders
“Knocking up” for the stitchers.
There were twenty stitching machines
Worked by a shaft under the table.
As each stitcher put work through the machine
She threw it on the table.
The books were piling up fast and some slid to the floor.
The forelady had said Keep the work off the floor!
And Amelia stooped to pick up the books –
Three or four had fallen under the table
She felt her hair caught gently
Put her hand up and felt
The shaft going round and round and round and round
And her hair caught on it, wound and winding around it.
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2. |
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I used the scythe like a corkscrew.
I used the corkscrew like a wedge.
I used the wedge like a hammer
Because any tool is also a hammer
Even if any rule is subject to its matter.
I used to think I knew how to see.
I used to draw out dusk and flush verb from form.
I used to sing sincerity for recover me
Because any tulip-framed Oedipal-skull
Cultivates its own speculum.
Thou Art That –
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3. |
Mosaic of Bolts
07:00
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After the wedding
Red wine cut through
Our ice cream headaches
Hollowed the throb
From our skulls with licked spoons.
The doctor did a silly dance
Circling the big chair on its back
Our cake crushed under it
Frosting globbed on the cuff of his pants.
Conserve the right to name Liberate History
Conserve History Liberate the corpse-weight
Conserve the corpse-weight Liberate the scrawling gaze
Conserve the scrawling gaze Liberate the icy frames
Conserve the icy frames Liberate the daylight’s meaning
Conserve the daylight’s meaning Liberate the sense of touch
Conserve the sense of touch Liberate the vision’s grip
Conserve the vision’s grip Liberate the film’s click
Conserve the film’s click Liberate the right to name
Your body doesn’t open.
Your body, it only folds.
Its seams meet in secret
Cavities between mosaics of bolts.
Her boots turned blue from snow-salt
Point towards the door.
The doctor has her wedged in.
– Molecular justice –
Her evil twin intuits prayer.
Mirror-Mirror suture my bouquet
Mirror-Mirror satiate my sweet tooth
That old-fashioned representation
Of God makes sense.
Even we only got – what?
Not even 30 frames per second.
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4. |
Stephen's Song
00:59
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See the whole volume of the train
Coming down the tracks
Baffling your mind.
In one minute see the volume
Coming down the tracks
Baffling your mind.
Take one second
Take one hundredth
Take one thousandth
Of that minute
Baffling the mind
And the baffling diminishes to simplicity.
This is the principle which presides
Over all attempts at exact observation
That I have elsewhere called
The law of convergence to simplicity
By diminution of extent.
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5. |
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What am I to do with all my faults?
How to best invest my limitations?
My understanding is evident in my actions
And subject to the symmetries of my sense organs.
God does exist, but only in those who believe in her.
Why are my best friends so proud of their enslavements?
Why fight for bondage as if it were freedom?
And why is freedom not just difficult to win, but so tough to bear?
Two men on the bus both separately notice the single baby shoe.
One man insists this baby shoe has been unfortunately forgotten.
The other man wonders aloud if this baby shoe hasn’t been abandoned.
Oh the confidence of the window washer moving through his scaffolds –
Up and down, his lowest point, far overhead.
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6. |
Jury Duty
03:03
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However at home I may feel
This big city is really no big deal.
Its leading men of business
Celebrated personalities
Its mayor and it athletes
They’re really all nothing to me.
I hope I have adequately demonstrated my emptiness.
I hope you have evidence enough to numerate your ruminations.
And however uneasy I feel
This reckless nation is really no big deal.
Its anthems and biases
Its dead stares and swindling
Systematized
It’s all history’s kindling.
I hope I have adequately demonstrated my emptiness.
I hope you have evidence enough to numerate your ruminations.
And whatever wonder I may feel
This whole planet is really no big deal.
A giant rock spinning ‘round a ball of fire
Timeless among its billions of twins
None of them identical, all of them immeasurable
But in the end each without consequence.
But the human individual –
I shudder in wonder at the other
I’ve flipped the mirror upside down.
It’s bolted to the wall, spins in place.
I’ve flipped the mirror upside down
And given it my all, but still see the same face.
I’ve flipped the mirror upside down.
It’s bolted to the wall, spins in place.
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Joan of Arc Chicago, Illinois
Chicago's Joan of Arc is never reliant on the status quo. In the course of their history, the band's recorded output has elicited not only critical praise through challenging the norms of traditional songwriting, but also significant backlash from reviewers who became increasingly confused by the band's eclectic output. ... more
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