1.God's Country
State trooper thinks I drive too fast
Pulled me over to tell me so
I say out here on the prarie
Any speed is too slow
I miss brooklyn I miss my crew
Let's start over
I missed my cue
Guess I just forgot
Who I was talking to
I should have recognized
That fierce look in his eyes
I've seen it in the mirror
So many times
He's going to put his two cents in
'Cause he's got a gun
But I'm gonna put in three
'Cause history owes me one
Guess I came out here to see some
Stuff for myself
I mean, why leave the telling
Up to everybody else
This may be god's country
But it's my country too
Move over Mr. holiness
And let the little people through
Thank you for serving and protecting
The likes of me
Thank you for the ticket
Now can I leave？
You know I have left everywhere
I have ever been
I don't really recommend it
Though not like anyone asked me
Maybe you and I
Will meet again someday
I've been known to
Come down this road
Call it destiny
And then again
Maybe not
I don't know
2.Subdivision
White people are so scared of black people.
They bulldoze out to the country, and put up houses on little
loop-d-loop streets.
And while America gets its heart cut right out of its chest
The Berlin wall still runs down main street separating east side
from west.
And nothing is stirring, not even a mouse, in the boarded up
stores and the broken down houses
So they hang colorful banners off all the street lamps
Just to prove they got no manners, no mercy, and no sense.
And I wonder then what it will take for my city to rise.
First we admit our mistakes and then we open our eyes.
The ghost of old buildings are haunting parking lots in the city
of good neighbors that history forgot.
I remember the first time I saw someone lying on the cold street
I thought, 'I can't just walk past you, this can't just be
true.'
But I learned by example to just keep moving my feet.
It's amazing the things that we all learn to do.
So we're led by denial like lambs to the slaughter
Serving empires of style and carbonated sugar water and the old
farmroad's a four-lane
That leads to the mall and my dreams are all guillotines waiting
to fall
And I wonder then what it will take for my country to rise.
First we admit our mistakes and then we open our eyes.
'til nation's last taker succumbs to one last dumb decision
And America the beautiful is just one big subdivision.
3.Angry Anymore
Growing up it was just me and my mom
Against the world
And all my sympathies were with her
When I was a little girl
But now I've seen both my parents
Play out the hands they were dealt
And as each year goes by
I know more about how my father must have felt
I just want you to understand
That I know what all the fighting was for
And I just want you to understand
That I'm not angry anymore
I'm not angry anymore
She taught me how to wage a cold war
With quiet charm
But I just want to walk
Through my life unarmed
To accept and just get by
Like my father learned to do
But without all the acceptance and getting by
That got my father through
Night falls like people into love
We generate our own light
To compensate
For the lack of light from above
Every time we fight
A cold wind blows our way
But we learn like the trees
How to bend
How to sway and say
I, I think I understand
What all this fighting is for
And baby, I just want you to understand
That I'm not angry anymore
No, I'm not angry anymore
4.Educated Guess
Looks like my crazy family
Is down one crazy daughter cuz
I'm shipwrecked in a desert that
Once was underwater just
Looking for a swift turn of phrase
Some colors to fly
As I float by
In the parade
Plus I dream in skin scented sentences
Of a stronger faster fiercer you
And to each noun, verb and predicate
I dedicate a vivid hue
But you ain't done too well
Getting past your permanent pastel
Have you now？
Yes, the desert seemed so promising
And then it paled somehow
So school is in session
Get your chin off your desk
Now pick up your pencil
And turn over your test
Use your education
And take an educated guess
About me
I've got a slot at eye level like
A speakeasy door
And I know you know the password
Cuz I've seen you here before
And I've got something sweet for you
And I don't care if it is more than you deserve
I've got a lot of love and a lot of nerve
So watch me while I take this curve
Yes school is in session
Get your chin off your desk
Now pick up your pencil
And turn over your test
Use your education
And take an educated guess
About me
Plus I have this whole new family
And I'm in love with each of them
And I'm on this list called lucky
Whenever I'm in reach of them
And I'm learning how to say
That I'd be happy either way
With your love
I'm calling on the stars above
School is in session
Get your chin off your desk
Now pick up your pencil
Turn over your test
Use your education
And take an educated guess
About me
5.Not So Soft
In a forest of stone
Underneath the corporate canopy
Where the sun rarely filters down
The ground is not so soft
Not so soft
They build buildings to house people
Making money
Or they build buildings to make money
Off of housing people
It's true
Like a lot of things are true
I am foraging for a phone booth on the forest floor
That is not so soft
I look up
It looks like the buildings are burning
But it's just the sun setting
The solar system calling an end to another business day
Eternally circling signally
The rythmic clicking on and off of computers
The pulse of the American machine
The pulse that draws death dancing
Out of anonymous side streets
You know
The ones that always get dumped on and never get plowed
It draws death dancing
Out of little countries
With funny languages
Where the ground is getting harder
And it was not that soft before
Those who call the shots are never in the line of fire
Why
Where there's life for hire out there
If a flag of truth were raised
We could watch every liar rise to wave it
Here we learn America like a script
Playwright
Birthright
Same thing
We bring ourselves to the role
We're all rehearsing for the presidency
I always wanted to be commander in chief of my one woman army
But I can envision the mediocrity of my finest hour
It's the failed America in me
It's the fear that lives in a forest of stone
Underneath the corporate canopy
Where the sun rarely filters down
And the ground is not so soft
6.2 Lil Girls
You were fresh off the boat from Virginia
I had a year in New York City under my belt
We met in a dream
We were both nineteen
I remember where we were standing
I remember how it felt
Two little girls
Growing out of their training bras
This little girl breaks furniture
This little girl breaks laws
Two girls together
Just a little less alone
This little girl cries wee wee wee
All the way home
You were always half crazy
Now look at you baby
Make about as much sense as a nursery rhyme
Love is a piano
Dropped from a four story window
And you were in the wrong place
At the wrong time
I don't like your girlfriend
I blame her
Never seen one of your lovers
Do you so much harm
I loved you first
And you know I would prefer
If she didn't empty her syringes into your arm
Here comes little naked me
Padding up to the bathroom door to find little naked you
Slumped on the bathroom floor
So I guess I'll just stand here with my back against the wall
While you distill your whole life down to a 911 call
Now you bring me your bruises
So I can ooh and ah at the display
Maybe I'm supposed to make one of my famous jokes that makes
everything ok
Or maybe I'm supposed to be the handsome prince
Who rides up and unties your hands
Or maybe I'm supposed to be the furrowed-brow friend
Who thinks she understands
Here comes little naked me
Padding up to the bathroom door to find little naked you
Slumped on the bathroom floor
So I guess I'll just stand here
With my back against the wall
While you distill your whole life down to a 911 call
7.Gratitude
Thank you for letting me stay here
Thank you for taking me in
Thank you for the beer and the food
Thank you for loaning me bus fare
Thank you for showing me around
That was a very kind thing to do
Thank you for the use of the clean towel
Thank you for half of your bed
We can sleep here like brother and sister, you said
But you changed the rules in an hour or two
And I don't know what you and your sisters do
But please don't
Please stop
This is not my obligation
What does my body have to do
With my gratitude？
Look at you
Little white lying
For the purpose of justifying
What you're trying to do
I know that you feel my resistance
I know that you heard what I said
Otherwise you wouldn't need the excuse
Thank you
For letting me stay here
Thank you for taking me in
I don't know where else
I would have turned
But I don't come and go
Like a pop song
That you can play incessantly
And then foget when it's gone
You can't write me off
And you don't turn me on
So don't change the rules in an hour or two
I don't know what you and your sisters do
But please don't
Please stop
This is not my obligation
What does my body have to do with my gratitude？
8.Detroit Annie, Hitchhiking
9.In The Way
No you didn't just leave
I actually kicked you out
I couldn't hardly believe
That the words came out my mouth
You couldn't hardly believe
What you heard yourself discuss
And you packed up all your things
And you said goodbye to us
Tell me what is in the way
In the way of my love for you？
Tell me what is in the way
In the way of my love for you？
Hafta get it outta of the way of my love
Hafta get it outta of the way of my love
And now there's nothing left to lose,
And the screen just says 'fini'
And each night in separate rooms
We cry separately
And every day we yell
Down each other's holes
Two slippery strippers
Swinging round two poles
Tell me what is in the way
In the way of my love for you？
Tell me what is in the way
In the way of my love for you？
Yeah there's something in the way of my love for you
Yeah there's something in the way of my love
So we took down all the pictures
And then we took down all the walls
Packed up our expectations
Piled them in the hall
Yeah we bagged our future
Kicked it to the curb
And then we stood there unencumbered
And we stood there undeterred
Cause we were done clinging
To the things we were afraid to lose
And the only thing left
Was a breathtaking view
You looked at me
And I looked at you
And we said, 'how about now,
'what you wanna do？'
Now there's something in the way
In the way of my love for you
Now there's something in the way
In the way of my love for you
I have to get it out the way
Out the way of my love for you
I have to get it out the way
Out the way of my love for you
No you didn't just leave
No you didn't just leave
No you didn't just leave
No you didn't just leave
10.2nd Intermission
Second intermission
Anticipation
You know the third act
Small talk drops out of the play
You're standing in the lobby
Tightening your tourniquet
Waiting for it
And then the bell sounds
And the lights flash
And there's all these questions milling around
And there's no time to ask
No bliss for little miss leading
Cuz she's learning about bleeding
But what is love if not exquisite
Our only saving grace
Or is it？
And somewhere inside your iris
Blooms the reflection of my surprise
As you stroll past every last do not enter
And touch me at my epicenter
And the bell sounds
And the lights flash
And there's all these questions milling around
And there's no time to ask
I'm always trying to get there
I never really get there
To that quiet place where
I accept myself
Instead I'm deep inside some high school
Locker room no clothing
Popping the zits of my self loathing
Under fluorescent lights
And the bell sounds
And the lights flash
And there's all these questions milling around
And you're too ashamed to ask
Second intermission
Anticipation
You know the third act
Small talk drops out of the play
And you're standing in the lobby
Tightening your tourniquet
Waiting for it
Waiting for it
11.Names And Dates And Times
I know so many white people
I mean, where do I start？
The trouble with white people
Is you can't tell them apart
I'm so bad with names and dates and times
But I'm big on faces
That is, except for mine
I believe you when you tell me
We've met before
This time you've got my interest
This time you've got the floor
Why don't you go and tell me something
I don't already know
Give me something to remember you by
When you go
I eat too much
I laugh too long
Maybe I'll like too much of you
When I'm gone
Let's go over to the window
And sit in the neon light
Let's go out walking
You know, it's garbage night
Let's go down to the east river
And throw something in
Something we can't live without
And then let's start again
The more you talk
The more I get
The sense of something
That hasn't happened yet
The more you talk
The more I want to know
The way I'll remember you
When I go
I eat too much
I laugh too long
Maybe I'll like too much of you
When I'm gone
I am so many white people
I mean where do I start
They've got lots of personalities
I just can't tell them apart
And I never remember anything
Except for those things
Which I never forget you know
There's no in between
I'm big on your face
Yeah it's big in my mind
You're like the rest of the human race
You're one of a kind
12.Serpentine
Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone
So I play and I sing and I just let it ring,
All day when I'm at home
A defacto choice of
Macro-microcosmic melancholy
But baby any way you slice it,
I'm thinkin' I could just as soon use the time alone
Yeah the goons have gone global
And the ceo's are shredding files
And the democrans and the republicrats
Are flashing their toothy smiles
And uncle tom is posing for a photo-op with the oval office klan
And uncle sam is riggin' cockfights in the promised land
And that knife you stuck in my back is still there
It pinches a little when I sigh and moan
And these days I'm thinkin I could just as soon use the time
alone
Cause all the wrong people have the power of suggestion
And the freedom of the press is meaningless if nobody asks the
question
I mean causation by definition is such a complex compilation of
factors
That to even try to say why is to oversimplify
That's a far cry, isn't it dear, from acting like you're the
only one there
Unrepentantly self-centered and unfair
Enter all suckers scrambling for the truth
Exit mr. eye-contact who took his flirt and flew the coup
But whatever, no matter, no fishin trips, no fishin
Cause momma's officially out of commission
And did I mention in there somewhere
Did I mention somewhere in there
That I traded babe ruth,
Yes I traded the only player
That was bigger than the game
And I can't even tell you why,
Cause you'd think I'm insane
And that's the truth
And the music industry mafia is pimping girl power
Sniping off sharp-shooter singles from their styrofoam towers,
And hip-hop is tied up in the back room with a logo stuffed in
its mouth
Cause the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house
But then, I'm getting away from myself
As I get closer and closer home
And the difference between you and me baby
Is I get fucked up when I'm alone
And I must admit today
That my inner pessimist seems to have gotten the best of me
We start out sugared up on kool aid and manifest destiny
And then we memorize all the presidents names like little
trained monkeys
And we spit into the world so many spinny-eyed tv junkies
Incapable of unraveling the military-industrial mystery
Pre-emptively passified with history book history
And I've been around the world now and I can see this about
america
The mind control is deep here, man
The myopia is steep here, man
And behold those who try to expose the reality
Really try to realize democracy
Are shot with rubber bullets and gassed off the streets
While the global power brokers are kept clean and discreet
Behind a wall
Behind a moat
And that is all
That's all
That's all she wrote
And my heart beats an s-s-s o-o-o s-s-s
Cause folks just really couldn't care-care-care less-less-less
As long as every day is superbowl sunday
And larger than life women in lingerie are pouting at us from
every bus stop
She loves me, she loves me not
She loves me, she loves me not
She loves me, she loves me not
And 'big government should not stand between a man and his
money'
I mean, 'what's good for business is good for the country'
Our children still take that lie like communion,
The same old line the confederacy used on the union
Conjugate liberty into libertarian
And medicated associated with deregulation privitization
We won't even know we're slaves on a corporate plantation
Somebody say hallelujah,
Somebody say damnation,
Cause the profit system follows the path of least resistance
And the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked
Makes it serpentine
Capitalism is the devil's wet dream
So just give me my judy garland drugs and let me get back to
work
Cause the empire state building is the tallest building in new
york
And I have always got the feeling
You just like to hear it fall off your tongue
But I remember my name in your mouth
And I don't think I was done hearing it close to my ear
On a whisper's way to a moan
Pavlov hits me with more bad news every time I answer the phone
So I play and I sing and just let it ring,
All day when I'm at home
A defacto choice of
Macro-microcosmic melancholy
But baby any way you slice it,
I'm thinkin' I could just as soon use the time alone
13.Self Evident
Yes,
Us people are just poems
We're 90% metaphor
With a leanness of meaning
Approaching hyper-distillation
And once upon a time
We were moonshine
Rushing down the throat of a giraffe
Yes, rushing down the long hallway
Despite what the p.A. announcement says
Yes, rushing down the long stairs
With the whiskey of eternity
Fermented and distilled
To eighteen minutes
Burning down our throats
Down the hall
Down the stairs
In a building so tall
That it will always be there
Yes, it's part of a pair
There on the bow of noah's ark
The most prestigious couple
Just kickin back parked
Against a perfectly blue sky
On a morning beatific
In its indian summer breeze
On the day that america
Fell to its knees
After strutting around for a century
Without saying thank you
Or please
And the shock was subsonic
And the smoke was deafening
Between the setup and the punch line
Cuz we were all on time for work that day
We all boarded that plane for to fly
And then while the fires were raging
We all climbed up on the windowsill
And then we all held hands
And jumped into the sky
And every borough looked up when it heard the first blast
And then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed
And the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar
Looked more like war than anything I've seen so far
So far
So far
So fierce and ingenious
A poetic specter so far gone
That every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling
Over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on
And I'll tell you what, while we're at it
You can keep the pentagon
Keep the propaganda
Keep each and every tv
That's been trying to convince me
To participate
In some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution
Perpetuate retribution
Even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution
Is still hanging in the air
And there's ash on our shoes
And there's ash in our hair
And there's a fine silt on every mantle
From hell's kitchen to brooklyn
And the streets are full of stories
Sudden twists and near misses
And soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
With tales of narrowly averted disasters
And the whiskey is flowin
Like never before
As all over the country
Folks just shake their heads
And pour
So here's a toast to all the folks who live in palestine
Afghanistan
Iraq
El Salvador
Here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
Under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore
Here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
Who daily provide women with a choice
Who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
Just to listen to a young woman's voice
Here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
Awaiting the executioner's guillotine
Who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their
heads
To find peace in the form of a dream
Cuz take away our playstations
And we are a third world nation
Under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
Who stole the oval office and that phony election
I mean
It don't take a weatherman
To look around and see the weather
Jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
And boy did he ever
And we hold these truths to be self evident：
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
Cuz I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
I've got no room for a lie so verbose
I'm looking out over my whole human family
And I'm raising my glass in a toast
Here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
Let us vow to get off of this sauce
Shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
And find that train ticket we lost
Cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
And peeked into all the backyards
And the laundry was waving
The graffiti was teasing us
From brick walls and bridges
We were rolling over ridges
Through valleys
Under stars
I dream of touring like duke ellington
In my own railroad car
I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
In a grand station aglow with grace
And then standing out on the platform
And feeling the air on my face
Give back the night its distant whistle
Give the darkness back its soul
Give the big oil companies the finger finally
And relearn how to rock-n-roll
Yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there
So it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets
And clear the air
Get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand
Of someone else's desert
Put it back in its pants
And quit the hypocritical chants of
Freedom forever
Cuz when one lone phone rang
In two thousand and one
At ten after nine
On nine one one
Which is the number we all called
When that lone phone rang right off the wall
Right off our desk and down the long hall
Down the long stairs
In a building so tall
That the whole world turned
Just to watch it fall
And while we're at it
Remember the first time around？
The bomb？
The ryder truck？
The parking garage？
The princess that didn't even feel the pea？
Remember joking around in our apartment on avenue d？
Can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change
their design
Following a fantastical reversal of the new york skyline？!
It was a joke, of course
It was a joke
At the time
And that was just a few years ago
So let the record show
That the fbi was all over that case
That the plot was obvious and in everybody's face
And scoping that scene
Religiously
The cia
Or is it kgb？
Committing countless crimes against humanity
With this kind of eventuality
As its excuse
For abuse after expensive abuse
And it didn't have a clue
Look, another window to see through
Way up here
On the 104th floor
Look
Another key
Another door
10% literal
90% metaphor
3000 some poems disguised as people
On an almost too perfect day
Should be more than pawns
In some asshole's passion play
So now it's your job
And it's my job
To make it that way
To make sure they didn't die in vain
Sshhhhhh
Baby listen
Hear the train？
14.Out Of Range
Just the thought of our bed
Makes me crumble like the plaster
Where you punched the wall beside my bed
And I try to draw the line
But it ends up running down the middle of me
Most of the time
Boys get locked up in some prison
Girls get locked up in some house
And it don't matter if it's a warden or a lover or a spouse
You just can't talk to 'em
You just can't reason
You just can't leave
And you just can't please 'em
I was locked
Into being my mother's daughter
I was just eating bread and water
Thinking nothing ever changes
And I was shocked
To see the mistakes of each generation
Will just fade like a radio station
If you drive out of range
If you're not angry
You're just stupid
Or you don't care
How else can you react
When you know
Something's so unfair
The men of the hour
Can kill half the world in war
Make them slaves to a super power
And let them die poor
I was locked
Into being my mother's daughter
I was just eating bread and water
Thinking nothing ever changes
And I was shocked
To see the mistakes of each generation
Will just fade like a radio station
If you drive out of range
Just the thought of our bed
Makes me crumble like the plaster
Where you punched the wall beside my bed
And I try to draw the line
But it ends up running down the middle of me
Most of the time
Baby I love you
That's why I'm leaving
There's no talking to you
And there's no pleasing you
And I care enough
That I'm mad
That half the world don't even know
What they could have had
I was locked
Into being my mother's daughter
I was just eating bread and water
Thinking nothing ever changes
And I was shocked
To see the mistakes of each generation
Will just fade like a radio station
If you drive out of range
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