'How To Sing A Sad Song without Crying'

It's a funny thing when you Google a phrase, semi-ironically, and then more than one article quotes that phrase verbatim:

http://www.wikihow.com/Sing-a-Sad-Song-Without-Crying

Song without Words

Well, it has words now. But it's a song that I've been carrying around without words for a long time.

either I saw a flash of light

across your eyes into the night

or everything you ever said was true

the comfort of your crooked home

its magic draw and silent hopes

because I needed you

I have been the world around

to map the contours of its ground

but earth itself has no escaping you

I've watched you slip right through the hands

of God's own sealed and foolproof plans

and passed it off as the loving thing to do

when I needed you

from the bottom of this canyon rock

swept free of pride and past the shock

it's telling when there's nothing left to lose

that I stand here as my final act

with life, and sense, and soul intact to say

I'm leaving you

____________________________

voices 2&3:
you'll have to go it solo

those hearts can't make it through

you've always had it, so go

don't look behind of you

one step follows the other

new place, new life, new home

and when it all comes crashing

you'll face those fears alone

voice 4:
to the rescue

neck deep in water when I found you

to the rescue

just let it go and come to me

voice 1:
when the scenery came down

I found myself on solid ground

 - SK, 2010-2014

This Is My House

This
is my house
This is my house
This is my house and I
and I
and I get to decide

This is my house and I get to decide

This is my house
and I get to decide
who comes inside
(who comes inside)

This is my house
and I get to decide
who comes inside.

Anger is mine
(anger is mine)

Anger is an arrow
Anger is an arrow that points
Anger is an arrow that points
Anger is an arrow that points me in the right
Anger is an arrow that points me in the right
Anger is an arrow that points me in the right direction
Anger is an arrow that points me in the direction that I should go
Anger is an arrow that points me in the right direction that I should go

Anger is an arrow that points me in the right direction that I should go
(in the direction that I should go)
NO
Anger is an arrow that points me in the right direction that you should go
Anger is an arrow that points me in the direction that you should go
in the direction that you should go

This is my house!
(this is my house)
And you are not
a guest in it

This is my house and you are not a guest in it.

This is my house and I get to decide
This is my house and I get to decide
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck
(who to fuck)
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck who to fuck
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck comes inside.
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck comes inside.
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck comes inside of it.
This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck comes inside of it

from now on
from now on
from now on

This is my house and I get to decide who the fuck comes inside of it from now on.

- sk, dec 2013/jan 2014

we did not know exactly what those trees meant

just you and me
with two brooms going
and nothing much to say

the needles everywhere
dried up
sticking to our socks like
insults
unready to be dismissed

we did not know
exactly what
those trees meant

when mine
with glory blazing
and everyone
clustered around
blissfully nestled into false frames
one last time

we come back

tired
with two brooms going
and nothing else to say

-sk 1/13/14

(we should often reflect on this)

i will grow old
i will grow old and grow

apart from all that's dear to me

i will grow old

in the end
there will be no one
next to me

age will happen
even to me
i will gain illness
and, looking back,

will finally see what it is to be so well
and free

—here—
i have made huge mistakes

i have been ungrateful

i have been
aloof

i have given everything
i have
and everything
i am

to manipulate the truth

—so—
i fall heir to all of this
even to forgiveness

(we should often reflect on this)

in the end
i will lose
everyone and
i will lose
everything
especially my way
and
that dawn will break
fearless as the heart
—leveled—
after an earthquake


- SK, 2011-13

Live from Brooklyn! (See also: Clapping Methodists)

Because the music minister is a feminist peace activist and poet who is generally rad, I was invited to perform one of my new songs, "Yesterday I Do," at the Methodist Church this morning. Joining me were Leila (LEE-la) Whitley (voice) and Amy Holderness (guitar, voice). I wasn't able to scrounge up trombones, an upright bass, or a drummer for this but I think we held it down pretty nicely with just a guitar. Video caught by Alaska.

Also: clapping Methodists. And: sharing a microphone with a tall tall tree.

We Notice That It Is Small

Via James Madison University Professor of Tuba and Euphonium Kevin Stees.

 “When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as "rootless and stemless." We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don't condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.”

― W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance