Flyboy
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
Flyboy,
You won't know what won't hurt you and
My boy,
You were born to the purple and
I need you now
like the
lump in my bed
needs the hole in my head
and you won't
hear a sound
if you knew what I said
I'd be better off dead and you're
Flying low
over the wheat
Stunning the sheep
with your hook beak and apple cheeks
I'm alright
stuck on the wheat
Cunning but weak
I swear I won't make a peep
I need you now
like the
lump in my bed
needs the hole in my head
and you won't
hear a sound
if you knew what I said
I'd be better off dead
cuz the hole in my head wants the lump in your bed
Fly away, Flyboy
sail over the rooftops
and swim through
the ether
on silent
wings
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Motorcade
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
If you had a market for a
seven-letter sobriquet
you'd gussy up the motorcade
and show 'em what you got
And then when you back away
it doesn't matter anyway
because you've got no time to pay
for what they think you've bought.
You don't know
you don't say
Everybody knew she hung around the CIA
and if you didn't spell her middle name it'd be OK
and her husband had it coming to him anyway
You don't need a calendar to tell you it's today
And if you had a market for a
hundred-level microwave
you'd sully up the motorcade
and show 'em what you got.
When you cart the ash away
you know what all your friends will say
they might still like you anyway
unless things get too hot.
You don't say
you don't know
Light that baby up and you can show us where to go
File all the paperwork and then collect your dough
Then ring up the sitter and find out how much she knows
You don't need a weatherman to tell you that it blows.
And if you had a market for a
category hurricane
you'd
rev up the motorcade
and show
'em
what
you
got
back to top
Nothing New
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
I would lie
You would steal
I would cheat
You would kill
and where you'll go
they may never know
I will weep
They will scoff
You will keep
What they lost
and I will die for you
and I am nothing new
I feel the Rapture
crawling up my leg
I hear the rumbling earthquake
I see your Golden Boy
staring into space
I fear his warm embrace
and
I will die for you
and I am nothing new
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Night
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
When night falls
down
you pray to see
When light goes still
you strain to be
you're on your own
you know
When air will bear no sound
you hear to breathe
you're on your own
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Democracy
© Leonard Cohen
Stranger Music (BMI), Sony ATV Music Publishing, used with permission.
It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that it ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the sorrow on the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.
It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
Sail on, sail on ...
I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
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Across the Universe
© Lennon/McCartney,
published by Sony ATV Tunes and EMI Blackwood Music, used with permission.
Words are flowing out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as
they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me
Nothing's gonna change my world
Images of broken light which
dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
Nothing's gonna change my world
Sounds of laughter shades of earth
are ringing through my open ears
exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe
Nothing's gonna change my world
back to top
Cosmos and Asters
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
and you know nothing
and you are nothing too
and you need nothing
nothing is part of you
back to top
Dear Shadow
Lyrics from Found II
Dear Shadow,
I miss you so much. How is hevan?
I just love you so much. Please show me
you still remember me. Send a sing, please also of God.
I love you guys in hevan!
back to top
In the Rain
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
You grew up in the rain,
you're gonna look wet.
You made it to this plane
with few regrets.
I couldn't take the pain,
I'm willing to bet.
And I wouldn't give you nothing
and you haven't thought of
asking for it yet.
back to top
Birthright
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
And while your clan's engaging
in tense negotiations
to apprehend the birthright of the meek
you keep pretending that it's
a brand-new situation
but we went through this just the other week
You taught your children
nothing's free
but now they're always grabbing
Your only weakness
you can't see they were always watching you
You take advantage of your
untarnished reputation
as the keeper of the family peace
But when your brother starts up
another altercation
who are you to turn the other cheek?
You taught your children
to love Jesus
And now they're always gagging
Mouths full of wafers
if they could speak
They'd be asking, asking
Where were you
when you knew?
Where were you
when you knew?
First they came for Muslims
then they came for Jews
then they came for Jesus
Will they come for you?
(you were not a Muslim
you were not a Jew
you were not like Jesus
Who will speak up for you?)
You've always been the one to
perform resuscitations
while all the others stand around
and weep
But when your country chokes on
its transubstantiation
who are you to do a finger sweep?
You taught your children to breathe free
and now they're always gasping
If they could get the air to speak
They'd be asking asking
Where were you
when you knew?
Crying
What to do
when they come for you
when they come for you
Will they come for you?
You keep pretending that it's
a brand new situation
but as the kids will see
We are history.
back to top
Man Who Stole Tomorrow
© 2001, Stephanie Rearick
Where did you land
after your fall
You didn't land at all
Now we sit here in sorrow
with the man who stole tomorrow
You couldn't stand
She made you tall
Both had to fall
Now we sit here in sorrow
with the man who stole tomorrow
And anyone will fell you
It's the only thing they know
Noone can ever tell that you are really in control,
How you sit in tomorrow
with the man, man who stole our sorrow
There was nothing that you wouldn't do
You did nothing that you wanted to
back to top
Native Tongue
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
You swept and mopped
your favorite son.
You lost your native tongue.
You played the game
that nobody won
You could have been someone
But you loved the sweets
You loved the rain-slicked streets
You worshipped the sun
You weren't the only one
You swept and mopped
your favorite son.
You lost your native tongue
back to top
You Don't Know
© 2007, Stephanie Rearick
You don't know
what you've got
what you've got,
what you want
what you've got,
what you want
You don't know
You don't know
What you've got
What you want
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sonnet entitled how to run the world)
Poem by e.e. cummings,
© 1935, 1963, 1991 by the Trustees for the E. E. Cummings Trust. © 1978 by George James Firmage, from COMPLETE POEMS: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited by George Firmage. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corp.
A always don't there B being no such thing
for C can't casts no shadow D drink and
E eat of her voice in whose silence the music of spring
lives F feel opens but shuts understand
G gladly forget little having less
with every least each most remembering
H highest fly only the flag that's furled
(sestet entitled grass is flesh or swim
who can and bathe who must or any dream
means more than sleep as more than know means guess)
I item i immaculately owe
dying one life and will my rest to these
children building this rainman out of snow
back to top
Hymn
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
How do we
keep on?
All we ever knew
was wrong
God keep our faith
at your commanding
from reprobate
An understanding
We seal our fate
How will we
get along?
All we ever knew
is gone
God keep our faith
and understanding
in trust and safe
at your commanding
Godspeed our fate
How will we learn
from wrong?
How could it be
so long?
back to top
Star Belly
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
From butterscotch bubblegum
Green candy apples
and raspberry pie
To mud in your eye,
We do or we die
Slimy brown leeches
and star-bellied sneetches
and snakes with one eye
Whose stakes just got high
with you on top of the hill
singing
I'll do whatever I want
You'll take whatever I got
I'll do whatever
and you'll feel much better
and whether you feel it or not
The cards that you're playing
Their faces keep changing
with whiskey and rye
In the blink of an eye,
Will you or will I?
Rhapsody wavering
symphony quavering
Notes that slide by
Tears that won't dry,
A flood
Run up to the hill
singing
I'll do whatever I want
You'll take whatever I got
I'll do whatever
and you'll feel much better
and whether you feel it or not
back to top
Disease
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
Another country heard from
Another circle broken
Another sentence uttered
Better left unspoken
And if your heart is open
it seems it may have sprung a leak
Drain it to the sewer and then
Take a drink
Now everything is spilling out
All your wounds are open
Please accept this tourniquet
as of my love a token
And though your mouth is open
you cannot find the words to speak
They have yet to name your disease
We've emptied out your ribcage
A verdant field gone fallow
Now you're going diving
where the water's shallow
And if your skin is sallow
The blood that drained was drained from me
Flush it to the sewer and
Get some relief
First you were a rich man
Then you were a poor man
Once you had the penthouse
Now you are the doorman
And though it's striking everyone
we never had the nerve to scream
They have yet to name your disease
Noone wants to buy the cow when they can suck her teats for free
Now I lay you on the ground and bid them eat your meat with me
Noone wants to buy the cow when they can suck your teats for free
Now I splay you on the ground and beg them eat your meat for me
Noone wants to buy the cow when they can suck her teats for free
Now I lay me on the ground and beg you strip my meat from me
back to top
Twilight Fog
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
The twilight fog
is one still breath
Just like the wet
and tender kiss of
death
and when they ask
what became of you
I turn my eyes to a
sparkling drop of dew
The geese cry out
They're not home yet
They cut a hazy figure
overhead
And when they turn
and bid you fond adieu
A ghostly chill
settles over you
back to top
Your Foolish Heart
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
And so it goes
or so I'm told
Your foolish heart
is good as gold
When what you sow
is all your dreams
They'll sprout up soon
or so it seems
like yesterday
on Granddad's knee
you learned to play
He got to see
to it you'd
do what you'd wanted to do every day
and he knew
You'd got nothing better to do anyway
up in the sky
a birdie sings
He likes to fly
He loves his wings
And while he sings
a horse goes by
with one fine thing
o'er either eye
and close behind
a carriage trails
'I am not blind'
they horsey wails
whinnying
'Do what you wanted to do every day
Anything
They've got nothing better for you anyway
out in the field
your mother sighs
as one more meal
around her dies
and while she cries
the birdie sings
that once you fly
You'll get your wings
And so it goes
or so I'm told
Your foolish heart
is good as gold
back to top
DreemyCream
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
He's a real go-getter
Invisible till he comes up and bites you
He's a real showstopper
Curtain call in a vacant theatre
He wouldn't have me for all of the world
And if he would I'm not that kind of girl
He's so downtown
He's a creamy dreamer
But waking up can be so disjointing
He's a dreamy schemer
Promising nothing and not disappointing
He wouldn't have me for all of the world
And if he would I'm not that kind of girl
He's so downtown
He's my Dreemycream
He's so downtown
back to top
Roll Over
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
There once was a man
who had to work his mind
It wasn't his fault
it just happened all the time
In spite of the shaowy figures
that circled and fed
With venom and spittle
they muttered and sputtered
and this is what they said
Roll over
and take your kicks to the head
like a man
Roll over
in the most sporting way you can
You know you're outnumbered
by minds unencumbered
with 2 + 2 is 4
Get screaming and kicking
Each moment is ticking
And ten times as loud as the moment before
And there was a man
who never had a spine
He wanted to move
but he trembled all the time
In fear at the chorus of voices
that rang in his head
The song that has always
divided the quick and the dead
Roll over
Roll over and take your kicks to the head
like a man
Roll over
in the most sporting way you can
Roll over
And there was a man
who had to work his mind
It wasn't his fault
but he trembled all the time
back to top
Arms
© 2005, Stephanie Rearick
I lay my arms around you
Your ivory throat
does glow
Motion is all about you
Nowhere for you to go
Your open eyes
are streaming
Wide from what they
were dreaming
Nothing is in your mirror
Nothing for you to know
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Ghostlike
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick
Inscrutable smile and hearty hello
Great introduction, now where is the show?
show up
show down
show us all how it's done
You're the star attraction
Hostlike
Ready for action and ready to go
Ready for nothing or ready to blow
blow up
blow off
blow job
blow in the wind
like a white gauze curtain
Ghostlike
Very urbane in your top hat and cane
So inhumane of you not just to know
know all
know nothing
no go and no show
You're the star attraction
Ghostlike
back to top
Tiny Hairs
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick
There's a tiny little man
in a tiny little house
with a tiny little wife
for his tiny little spouse
By a tiny little choice
she wears a golden ring
has a tiny little voice
'cause he hates to hear her sing
They do a tiny dance
Wave their little limbs
Bark their tiny shins
Step on little toes and ankles
They jitterbug
They cut a rug
He gives a tug
And she just topples over
She holds to some sign of happiness
like she clutches her pocketbook
meanwhile...
Every robber can tell
she'll never let go while he's
throwing paper airplanes at her-
throwing paper airplanes till she's-
throwing paper airplanes like I said
So the tiny little man
and his tiny little spouse
gave a tiny little birth
to a tiny little louse
which falls down tiny stairs
and he swings his little fists
and he splits her tiny hairs
and she slits her little wrists
They do a tiny dance
Wave their little limbs
Bark their tiny shins
Step on little toes and ankles
They jitterbug
They cut a rug
He gives a tug
And she just topples over
He is carefully watching himself
for some sign of empathy
While she's avoiding his eyes
and every moment he's
throwing paper airplanes at her-
throwing paper airplanes till she's-
throwing paper airplanes like I said
like I said
like I said
back to top
Secret
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick and Jon Hain
I've got a secret
White lights and treatments
Dark nights bathed in fine mist
much like
just like you
Fog sleeps with clenched fists
Drowns in a fine mist
back to top
These Birds
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick
These birds have to scratch and scramble
These birds only want to tweet
These birds plow through brush and bramble
just to get a speck of grain to eat
Scratch and scramble
Want
Plow
For the chance to pick their masters
These birds have to scratch and scramble
These birds only want to screech
These birds plow through brush and bramble
For the chance to peck their masters' feet
back to top
Clyde
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick
The silence is deafening
the moon's face is reddening
the heartache is deadening
the daybreak is threatening
The birds circle over,
dropping feathers,
fluff you up a bed
A train sounds a lonely horn
You hold your ears against it,
now it's gone.
Hold your breath, it won't be long
They'll find out that you won't be moving on
Hot sparks are flying,
metal screeching,
screaming toward the dawn
The passengers strain to see
the gruesome curiosity
of iron and velocity
roaring on with such ferocity
The birds circle over,
dropping feathers,
fluff you up a bed.
back to top
Lamentation
© 2003, Stephanie Rearick
Worms did eat the apple of my eye
I reach out for the dust to draw it nigh
nigh
I listen for a daughter's earthly cry
I only hear the wind around me sigh
sigh
I walked down darkened corridor
with raspy throated troubadour
who slowing, sinking, toward the floor
lay down and lies behind me evermore
evermore
I've been looking for the angels in the snow
I've only found the absence of a shadow
back to top
I Need Sunflowers!
I need sunflowers!
I walk many miles trying to find some.
If they're fresh, I kiss their honey faces
if they're dried, I put them on my windowsill
where they continue glowing
back to top
Bloan
© 2000, Stephanie
Rearick
If only you'd known...
You could have come back with bunches of flowers in your hands
Or was it a fistful of your lover's hair?
If only you had known
But you were thrown
onto the pyre of your easy chair
In a room full of broken glass everywhere
If only you had known...
And now you've shown
You couldn't ask for the lion's share anyway
No matter what all the people around you say
You'll just avert this tragedy some other day
Once he's collected all you could possibly pay
And if you had known
You could have flown back to top
Theme from "Jesus"
Words
© 1998, Stephanie Rearick
She said "You've heard of Jesus,
He turned a cake into a pie
And remember how he helped clear up
the sty in that guy's eye"
Do as I do, not as I say I think I'll do.
back to top
Uncle Runkle
© 2000,
Stephanie Rearick
It feels like it was yesterday
When I explained to you
from my tender teenage point of view
Ain't noone ever gonna notice you
till you change your mousy ways
Just take a day or two
to rethink your girlish attitudes
I know someone who's been watching you
I'll be sending him your way
Hope you like my Uncle Runkle
He's the only kraut in the neighborhood
Hope you like my Uncle Runkle
He'd never ever have it any other way
And when he comes for you
wear the lipstick like I showed you to
With some nylon stockings and a new hairdo
you could be your mother's age
Just don't unbolt the door
till he tells you what he's asking for
You know everyone will say you're a whore
if you let him have his way
Hope you like my Uncle Runkle
He's the only kraut in the neighborhood
Hope you like my Uncle Runkle
He'd never ever have it any other way
...and when he loves you the night sky goes twinkle starry blue
and when he kissed you your whole life was all over...
Why'd you unbolt the door
then pretend you didn't ask for more
There's a whole society behind your door
don't you have something to say
(you shouldn't say it anyway)
Don't you tell on Uncle Runkle
He's the oldest grouch in the neighborhood
Don't you tell on Uncle Runkle
He'd never ever have it any other way
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Baker St.
© 1998,
Stephanie Rearick
X was walking down the big city street
past the pawn shop and the laundry
and the orange neon sign that said "EAT"
When she saw it was a quarter to three
she said to herself "Man, what's happened to me?
I ought to be home on Baker Street"
She'd got her wallet stolen and was clocked
on the head, she was feeling pretty dazed
and a little she'd bled
She wanted a cab but couldn't cover the cost
and she had to admit she was utterly lost
and far from home on Baker Street
where she'd lived six years or so
at the end of the cul-de-sac
where all the neighbor kids could go
and she'd fix them a tasty snack
She had a pretty green lawn,
Three full baths
Two car garage
X was going round and round
and up and down the street
and she frantically stopped
everybody she'd meet
asked them all the same question,
how to get home
They all gave the same response,
the answer unknown
They'd never heard of Baker St.
So she went to the police station
and pulled aside a cop
and said "You gotta help me officer,
I need it a lot! I got my wallet stolen
early today and on top of that
I seem to've lost my way
back to my home on Baker St.
Where I've lived six years or so
at the end of the cul-de-sac
It's where I really want to go
And I need you to get me back
To my pretty green lawn
Three full baths
Two car garage"
The cop said "Sorry ma'am I never heard of a place
that matched a description like the one
you just gave"
He went to the other room and pulled out a map
and our poor X fainted when he came back and said
"There's no such place as Baker St."
"We're sorry, the number you've dialed is not in service.
Please hang up and try your call again"
So X got herself a waitressing job
at the corner diner
where the men could slap her ass
but she could not be a whiner
Then she got a cheap room in a
little boarding house
It was the first she'd shared a bathroom
with folks other than her spouse
who may still live on Baker St.
Where they'd lived six years or so
at the end of the cul-de-sac
Where all the neighbor kids could go
and she'd fix them a tasty snack
They had a pretty green lawn
Three full baths
Two car garage...
Now it's been seven years and the memory has faded
and X has settled in and grown a little bit jaded
but she has herself a job that pays the rent
and she's hard-pressed to say where all the time went
since she left old Baker St.
...Last Saturday night X was working at the diner
and a man straggled in looking really upset
He said "You gotta help me please, I think I've lost my way
and noone around seems to know what to say when I ask
how to get to Baker St."
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Ferris Wheel
© 1998,
Stephanie Rearick
We were
riding on a ferris wheel
getting stranded in the sun
making up a fancy poem
You were leaving soon
and we had all the time in the world
making futures in the woods
sleeping by the highway-side
drawing phanties and their toothaloops
We were growing up
and we lived all the life in the world
We're not alone
All around there are living things
And you were a butterfly
and you were a sailing ship
and a pink-haired silk-skinned wunderkind
We had very small pages
and we wrote the best book in the world
We're not alone
All around there are living things
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Tea In The Park
© 2000,
Stephanie Rearick
They couldn't get you
You knew what to do
you looked all around and you found there was nothing to lose
And how does it fit
your keen interest
that some are in Prada and others not wearing a stitch?
So you spend death-gamble days,
blackjack at night
Noone goes out
without a fight
No more
just sitting back
while the bank robs the store
and that's how the weeble wobbles
and that's how the tower topples
They couldn't get you
you knew what to do
you looked all around and you found there was nothing to lose
And how did you see
that you could break free
from the now barely-legal tradition of duplicity
Tea in the park
Pigs in the dark
You turn an eagle into a lark
No more
just looking on
while they lock up the poor
and you crawled up silent
through the mines
and you slew the giant
from behind back to top
Eating Machine
© 1999,
Stephanie Rearick
It's an eating machine,
you better get out of the way
Eating machine
'cause it could eat you too, someday
Say your prayers
Give us this day
our daily roast beast
Add in some yams
and some pickled goats' feet
Stockpile news
interest accrues
You snooze, you lose
Passing's passe
Live for today,
Come what may
It's an eating machine,
you better get out of the way
Eating machine,
and it could eat you too, someday
It's what's for dinner.
Peanuts and popcorn and pepsi and bagels and buffalo wings in a red plastic
basket
and cornflakes and poptarts and gummi lifesavers and purple jawbreakers and
tummy-ache makers
Kentucky Fried Chicken and Arby's and Hardee's
A Happy Meal Deal in a Sadsacky package
And WalMart and Target
they won't leave you wanting
You've got one-stop shopping
your shopping bag's popping
Come and get it if you want it
You can have it all and you can have it now
no wait at all
you better hurry up
things might get different any day
Smart bombs and landmines and Patriot missiles
and Westinghouse weapons in Boeing jet airplanes
Depleted uranium clusters of cluster bombs
stealthy Stealth bombers, the mighty Apache
Collateral damage and rashes and maimings
and spinal cord injuries and burned up babies
and air raids and shelters and refugee refuges in desert wastelands no food
and no future
You might get it if we want it
Yeah, we want it all and we can take it, now
if you don't play ball
you better watch yourself things might get different any day
Eating machine
You're what's for dinner
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Dancer
© 1999, Stephanie
Rearick
She was a dancer
she had the fleetest feet
She couldn't help it
Her feet were all to fleet
And she was getting somewhere
and she was going fast
And she was telling someone
that she knew it couldn't last
And she'd tell you something once
and not again
You were her only friend
You were her next of kin
And when she spoke up
she'd say the strangest things
She saw the future
and what tomorrow brings
And things keep moving forward
and things are going fast
And she is dancing somewhere
and she keeps spinning toward the past
And she told you something once
and not again
You were her only friend
You were her next of kin
She went and gave up the rest of her life
for one good waltz and a walk toward the light.
And when you looked up
with your beleaguered face
you couldn't know that
she always wins the race
And she is moving forward
and she is going fast
And she is getting nowhere
as she keeps spinning toward the past
And she'll tell you something once
and not again
You were her only friend
You were her next of kin
I will remember the rest of my life
I was her daughter and
time was her wife
She was a dancer
she had the fleetest feet
She couldn't help it
Her feet were all too fleet
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Cardboard Coffin
© 1998,
Stephanie Rearick
You need a jolt
You've got to bolt
you're half-asleep
you need to wake
The deal is grave
you cannot wait another day
No marking time
you've got to fly or scream or dance
you need a thrill you cannot
waste another chance
to finally feel like you are real
I buy my high by flying high in the sky
so I might feel like I might die
You've fallen ill
you're losing color
losing hair
you're losing weight
You know you may not live
to see another day
You've got no time for
peace of mind
you miss the calm
and all around you is the
deafening lack of sound
And you can't help but know you're real
There was a time
or was no time
when you were fine
and you could find
the perfect spot
that one good place
that wasn't bought
And you'd know all
you'd ever sought
was what you'd got
...How to tell it's a cardboard coffin:
Just wait till noone's looking and start knocking.
If it's a hollow thud and noone answers, then push
on the sides and see if they give.
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Indian Summer
© 2000,
Stephanie Rearick
It's late November and we're walking around the town
with our pants down
to feel the warm breeze on our knees
And on Thanksgiving day we ate our massive meal
under a steel blue sky
It feels so good
I hope it stays this way all winter
Indian Summer
This year at Christmastime we opened all our presents
under a palm tree
and at Spring Break
we bought our own Florida Key
Beachfront property is going for a song
Going for a song...
It's been so great
I hope it stays this way forever
Indian Summer
Our June wedding was disrupted by all the tumbleweeds
blowing through the aisle
and knocking the preacher off his feet
On Independence Day we cranked up the AC
and watched the fireworks display
on our giant screen TV
I think I'm finally looking forward to the end
of Indian Summer
...in August the cornstalks were blazing in the fields...
It's not so much the heat as the choking clouds of smoke
Indian Summer
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Not Another Minute
© 2001, Stephanie Rearick
Got another weekend for you, baby
Got another weekend for you now
Yeah we got another weekend for you darlin'
This weekend's gonna be a bitch, and how
Oh, yeah
Got another supper for you, grandma
even though you couldn't take another bite
Yeah we got another supper for you darlin'
just because you won't put up a fight
No, not another minute
Got another drip in store for grandma
got another drip in store for sure
Yeah we got another drip here for you darlin'
This drip'll keep you coming back for more
Oh, yeah
Let's have another birthday partygrandma
We could even prop you up in bed
Yeah we're coming to the birthday party, darlin'
Couldn't really hear you when you said
No, not another minute
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Elegy
© 1999, Stephanie Rearick
We were all alone
He was lying prone
and his eyes were closed,
My Dear
and he wore a suit
and he looked like you
My Dear
But I knew it wasn't you
He looked like you but didn't sigh like you
or smile like you
No twinkle in his eye
He didn't even lie
like you
would lie
And his hands were clasped
Nothing in their grasp
My Dear
You were nowhere to be seen
Left me in my time of need
My Dear
which you will always be
forgiven for,
but not forgot
And you will always be
invincible, irascible
invisible, erasable
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Wading
© 1996, Stephanie Rearick
It's raining
so steady
Pulsating on the river
The leaves
are glistening
and earthworms
are getting withered
Now
I'm wading
in the rippling water
squishing on the slimy bottom
walking 'cross the jagged rocks
I hit some moss
and slip in underwater
Now
I'm waiting
for someone to pull me up
to shore or even up
to air
but barring that
I'm waiting for my silver crayfish
And right now
I'm getting muddy
I'm getting leeches
I'm getting wet
And looking up from the murky bottom
I see sunlight casting diamonds on the surface
Sure looks nice.
Half-empty
half-assed and
half-full and
half-witted
Half-life and
half-lived and
half-hearted
half-dead
Half-deaf and
half-listened
Half the time
Half way
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The Man Who Stole Tomorrow
© 2001, Stephanie Rearick
Where did you land
after your fall
You didn't land at all
Now we sit here in sorrow
with the man who stole tomorrow
You couldn't stand
She made you tall
Both had to fall
Now we sit here in sorrow
with the man who stole tomorrow
And anyone will fell you
It's the only thing they know
Noone can ever tell that you are really in control,
How you sit in tomorrow
with the man, man who stole our sorrow
There was nothing that you wouldn't do
You did nothing that you wanted to
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Circular Reasoning
© 1995, Stephanie Rearick
You might be right
I don't know what's good for me
The things you do
are for my own security
In these great times of trouble
I'll trust you all
I'll crawl inside your bubble
no mind at all
And if you need a mouthpiece
I'll play along
I don't understand the words
but I know you wrote the song
You're dancing rings around my circular reasoning
Oh yes I know
you've got your own priorities
And I couldn't do
without all your amenities
You write your own prescription
You tend the store
And with your kind permission
I'll walk right through your door
Yes, in these times of trouble
I'll trust you all
I'll crawl inside your bubble
I'll watch you fall
You're dancing rings around my circular reasoning back to top
Jeopardy
© 1996, Stephanie Rearick
This jeopardy's electric
in its universal appalling appeal
this look is gonna gut you 'cause it
can't afford for you to have too much inside
It's your everyday beauty pageant
It's your time in the gaze of the spotlight
It's your day to sizzle in its eye
Are you wanting to pick it up or
are you trying your best to put it down?
This jeopardy awaits you like an
impatient naked lover
The warmth of it caresses you like
sunlight through a magnifying glass
It's your everyday beauty pageant
It's your time in the gaze of the spotlight
It's your day to sizzle in its eye
Are you wanting to pick it up or
are you trying your best to put it down?
You consider you so closely
it makes you want to gouge your eyes out
They consider you so thoroughly
it makes you want to gouge their eyes out too
It's an ordinary thing for you to do.
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Fiberglass Panties
© 1996, Stephanie Rearick
I met your friend today
I think she seems OK
pretty friendly and not too obnoxious
you seem to hang out a lot
closer than I had thought
I think it's nice for you
Wish I had one too
But there's something about it
It's nothing but
I feel funny and
please don't get mad at me
Can't put my finger on it
but it's something like this
I'm not sure how to say it
but I think that
She's too effusive
and you're too appreciative
You're too intimate
It's not appropriate
And I'm having this feeling
A little unsettling
Don't want to restrict you
but I feel a need to
explain and be heard cuz my thoughts
running wild
It's childish and wrong and irrational
I know inside of my head the threat it is mild
I shouldn't have said it I'm sorry but
I just had to bring it up
I just had to lay it down
Down your throat again
I just had to bring it up
I just had to lay it down
My disorderly brain needs to be sure
that you get a disorder too
I just had to bring it up
I just had to lay it down
Down your throat again
I just had to bring it up
I just had to lay it down
Now I'm wanting to lay it to rest
but it's restless and so you are too
Well I
hope you appreciate
I tried to show restraint
When I'm emotional
I tend to overstate
It's a little bit tricky
a little bit sticky
this business of being unenvious
I meant it but not quite
I think maybe not at all
Please don't be changing things
on my behalf now
I was a little bit restless
a little bit nervous
my ego was fragile
I think that I'm
over it now
and I take it all back
it had nothing to do with you
nothing to do with her
It was just the discomfort
was getting to me
It was all cuz I'm
wearing my fiberglass panties
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Happy Go Lucky
© 1994, Stephanie Rearick
Well the sun hangs low and bright and orange
in the blazing heat today
And it's just a watery coat of paint that keeps
the sun's rays at bay
And the biting flies are miserable
and their skin is en flambe
But the phanties think there's a cool lagoon
just a little ways away
So they go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and they seem to feel fine
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and their wrinkles tell the time
The sky it shelters overhead
like a pale blue glassy dome
And the tall grass rustles
as the other creatures
aimlessly still roam
And when the sun has fallen
and the day collapses into night
The phanties stay their course,
finding their way by bright moonlight
And they go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and they seem to feel fine
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They go walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and their wrinkles tell the time
And when the sun pokes up again
they know the heat the day will bring
But when despair begins to threaten
They begin to sing
And with every step they take
They know inside their trek
may never end
But they're pretty sure that
that lagoon must be
just around the bend
So they keep walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They keep walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and they seem to feel fine
They keep walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
in a single file line
They keep walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin' and a-walkin'
and their wrinkles tell the time
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Culty's
© 1995, Jon Hain, Stephanie Rearick & David Fawcett
Walk around the table
give that friendly wave
Close it down
Now your in the elite club
Yeah, so profound
It's Culty's Women and Boys
If you feel the need to belong
to rise above the throng
Just give a vacant stare
and give old Jim a scare
If you wonder why we're here
the reason is perfectly clear
if you drink some spicy beer
and braid your little beard
In the club you can
speak your mind
We'll listen and be kind
No matter what you say
We'll love you anyway
So if you need to get away
Just listen to what we say
You don't need a vacant stare
You just need people who care
like
CULTY'S WOMEN AND BOYS
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Erotomania
© 1994, Stephanie Rearick
I glassed a cast
up and down your body
And played a way that
you could step right through
I got a grip on your
holy senses
Then one of them
said you could see me too.
And when you wake up with your
morning face
and turn and look at me
and smile
I don't know if I can break
this pace
Maybe I'll see you in awhile
I grew and
hit my head
on your ceiling
And raised a bump
that you could
crawl into
So once again you've
set me reeling
Am I falling where
you want me to?
And when I get up off my
shattered face
You turn and look at me
and smile
I don't know if I can make
this pace
Maybe I'll see you in awhile
You bought a modicum
of ardor
and then went broke
before you wanted to
And when you're overdrawn
it's harder
to convince myself
I still want you
But when you show up
with your pretty face
and turn and look at me
and smile
All I know is I can't
shake this pace
Maybe I'll see you in awhile
...My body sings with your silence
It drifts in my ears with a calmness that clears out my mind
Your eyes paint scenes of my image
A newness surrounds the reflections that make up my world
Your breathing melts with the breezes
The wind rushes softly around me and wraps up my life back to top
Wading
© 1996, Stephanie Rearick
It's raining
so steady
Pulsating on the river
The leaves
are glistening
and earthworms
are getting withered
Now
I'm wading
in the rippling water
squishing on the slimy bottom
walking 'cross the jagged rocks
I hit some moss
and slip in underwater
Now
I'm waiting
for someone to pull me up
to shore or even up
to air
but barring that
I'm waiting for my silver crayfish
And right now
I'm getting muddy
I'm getting leeches
I'm getting wet
And looking up from the murky bottom
I see sunlight casting diamonds on the surface
Sure looks nice.
Half-empty
half-assed and
half-full and
half-witted
Half-life and
half-lived and
half-hearted
half-dead
Half-deaf and
half-listened
Half the time
Half way
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14
© 1996, Jon Hain
I'd like to paint a picture of 14 lonely women
drawing 14 lonely years.
I'd like to take a photograph of 14 lazy rivers
losing 14 lonely tears.
I'd like to tell a story of 14 diesel engines
losing 14 lonely gears.
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Lizards & Stars
© 1997, Stephanie Rearick
I've got a tale
It's a legendary epic
Full of monsters and lawyers and lizards and stars
You can't fit it in your head.
And it ends with the death of the universe
And you've a bit part somewhere in between
the climax and the denouement
And we are everything right now
I've got a song
It's a simple observation
made up of laughter and crying and ashes and dust
You can hold it in your hand.
And it ends in the blink of an insect's eye
And you are barely aware that each word of this song is
a piece of time
And we've all overwritten our roles
And they seem to be set in stone
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Out Of Breath
© 1996, Stephanie Rearick
You used to be
so unusual
You used to be
like a stranger
to me
You were living in another part of town
You were working on another friend of mine
You were painting very pretty pictures
of very ugly things
You were clinging to another fragment of
another foggy notion of another love
You were occupied by other things when
impulse grabbed you by your collar
You were walking down another street to
work and then you took another
left turn and you flagged another taxi
and you tipped another driver
and you conned another doorman and you
climbed another flight of stairs
and ended up at my door
at my door
And your timing was nearly imperfect
and your presence was almost unwelcome
And amid the details of your abrupt arrival
I was thinking
What a wonderful time to be living
Living on your knees
What a wonderful time to be breathing
Breathing down my neck
What a wonderful time to be beating
Beating down my door
Down my door
And maybe you'll excuse me while I babble
rather breathlessly and tell you I don't
want to be engaged in conversation with
you and if you were wondering I'm really
rather busy and I can't be entertaining
right now cuz I'm on the phone and maybe
if you stop another time when inconveniences
aren't keeping me from company, enjoying your
fine company, maybe I'll perform more aptly,
say my lines much more calmly, maybe I'll
stop talking for reasons other than running
out of breath.
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Sleepless Years
© 1995, Stephanie Rearick
He was only breathing sleepless years for a brass generation
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Tida
© 1993, Jon Hain & Stephanie Rearick
Walk six miles to touch the seahorse
in the factory
Divide your mileage by your time
then collect your fee
Compute the backwards blisster
then return your key
If you wanted to ride that tidal wave,
you could always wait by the sea
Tida Upala
uvula faster, try to relax
Put your thoughts inside your pillow
It's time to state your plea
Remember the weeping willow
by the balcony
Speak softly of your sorrow,
listen to the tree
When you redeem your conscience coupon
you will find your conscience is free
Tida Upala
uvula faster, try to relax
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