New Songs

Take a sneak peek at some of the new material I’ve been working on…

Marrow of a Bone

How can a body prove its worth?
what if I gave the wind a curl
hoping some industrious bird
might weave it into something warm and good

’cause there’s nothing hard at all about the center of a bone
it’s sweet to suck the soft marrow
keep on working at me ’till I’m all hollow
and lighter than a dove-tailed swallow

Oh to be made to rise above
and build nests out of straw and mud
singing out the sweetest songs
to make the night not seem so long and dark

CHORUS

But I was made to stand upright
on earth that’s cracked like elbow skin
and worry about frost at night
and feel the weight I’m carrying

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Dust and Wax

Oh we had a spark so brilliant
my love and I
and we wrote a pact and sealed it
vowed to keep it bright

so we found ourselves a lantern
and thought we were safe
not seeing how the light was bending
not seeing how the warmth escaped

while we were packing
I found soft, hand-rolled candles
buried in a drawer
and I cried to see the pair like that
dust clinging to the wax

I think everyone’s smoking now
just to prove they can breathe
see this cloud above my head?
well, that air was in me

CHORUS

so scorch me love, but do it quick
pass our fingers near the wick
pour a pool onto the paper
and press our thumbs into it

CHORUS

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The Canonization of Margot Price

That night I climbed the stairs
As though I were making a pilgrimage
As though when I had reached the top
I might become illuminated and wise

But I saw her there
Crouched at the kitchen table
Lost to the world
In the ritual consumption

Of spoon to bowl to maw
Bone rubbing bone noisily
And milk dribbling off her jaw
Until the box was gone
I saw, I saw

I saw her there
Through the bathroom door
Purging herself
Of the shame that rotted in her gut
Until she was no more than a relic

I thought of the woman
who’d been made a saint
for lying on a plank in her basement
until she starved to death
and cut off her breasts

I thought of lighting votives
On her clavicle
Like the ones burning
In the catacombs of Paris
And praying for her resurrection
Saying, “come back to me, oh please,
Come back to me.”

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The Mark

There was a moment where I had really lost my style
I’d keep flashing my teeth at people and calling it a smile
I thought I’d fooled everyone but you took me aside
said be kind, oh be kind, oh be kind, won’t you be kind
oh be kind, oh be kind, oh be kind, won’t you be kind

so we went buzzing around like two drunken honeybees
mix-tapes and double takes and letters overseas
you say the corniest things, I can’t even believe
but it’s sweet, yeah it’s sweet, yeah it’s sweet, oh you’re so sweet
yeah it’s sweet, oh it’s sweet, oh it’s sweet, oh you’re so sweet

time stretches like taffy
melts quicker than salt
I just want to be happy
for however long we’ve got

You took a felt-tip pen, drew a circle ’round my heart
I said, “so what’s this then, some kind of modern art?”
you said, “no, it’s just so I can better learn my mark
if I fall, if I fall, if I fall, oh if I fall”
if you fall, if you fall, if you fall, oh, I will follow

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August

You sleep like a child
So trusting and deep
While I lean back into
A late night symphony

My felt tip scratching in the dark
With the noises of mice in the kitchen drawers
I can hear them from all the way down the hall
But I don’t mean them any harm

Oh and it occurs to me
There are several sorts of peace
Yours is wrapped up in your dreams
And mine is solitary

Lying next to you
In the soft space of this room
I’ll whisper a tune
Of yellows, pinks, and blues

Of climbing the hills with oil pastels
And a box full of old newspapers
With people I love and the moon coming up
Our hunger fully sated

CHORUS

See, even the power lines
Cannot mar or hide
The beauty of the skyline
In this brilliant fading light

There in the gloaming the cattle are lowing
The grasses are blowing gently
Bowing their heads with reverence
For the majesty of the heavens

CHORUS

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