entropy hall
even then, the house was haunted
by tree frog cries
even then, the house was haunted
by fireflies
entropy hall
who lives in you now
everyone has forgotten
where the two dollar bill was
everyone has forgotten
where the bend in the dirt road was
everyone has forgotten
where the mulberry tree house was
one hides there still
reading by candle
porch swing rocking on an airless day
this airless year
am i hearing a piano play
is someone here
**
maimonides dream laboratory
1962
in a blue brooklyn room
hospital gowned, electrode crowned
malcolm drifts into dream
while in a distant room
agent waits his turn
now, the envelope unsealed
the target revealed
maimonides dream laboratory
will the things I see be the things you dream
see a white-walled building
patient upstairs escaping
wearing white, a doctor’s coat
fear like a tightening at your throat
not quite right here, not quite right
down a twilit hall I go
how does he know, how does he see
the corridor at Saint Remy
**
devil’s island
woman, if you want
to spend your monday
bundled up in bed
let him try to tell you no
i say go ahead
i saw you fix your eyes on his
saw him look away
now you’ve seen them change
from blue to gray
sometimes even angel eyes
can drown you slow
there’s a place on devil’s island
we could go
come on, girl
heard you were a siren singer
a while ago
back before you knew
the things we know
you fell silent at the party
when he stood by me
saw your angel hide
behind a tree
there’s a pulse in
the wrist of silence
take it slow
there’s a place on
devil’s island
we could go
come on, girl
**
stay the course
gray cubicle on your left side
same thing on your right
five days a week, you can’t tell day from night
you open up your trap
and let the corporate crap fall through
apart from our numbers
they can’t tell me from you
rats in a maze believe
there’ll be cheese at the end
what kind of rat
would tell the whole truth to a friend
no, we tell him:
stay the course
run that race
don’t let them turn you back
at the starting gate
take your mark
and give your heart
or all the heart you’ve got
left to give
in this dark place
sometimes when the hands are working
the mind will stray
out of the maze, into the light of day
the murmur of the script becomes
the murmur of the sea
we come so hard i can’t tell you from me
liberty for all would make
the fantasy complete
but for a rodent
any victory is sweet
**
arctic sea
what do you say to the arctic sea
what do you say to a coral reef
what do you say if the change we made were wrong
obviously we got a coal mine here
obviously for every mine there’s a canary
tell me please, does she sing for very long
i don’t know
but I’ve been told
some things are meant to stay cold
it’s melting away
but you knew that, right
no more ice caps to deflect the light
earth’s about to have the damnedest bad hair day
maybe they’ll make
a giant pill for her
goliath estrogen for those hot flashes
with her luck, the fucking hmo won’t pay
what do i know
but i’ve been told
some things were meant to stay cold
**
cruel girl
cruel girl
doesn’t care about you
cruel girl
will not let you prattle on
cruel girl
sends you home with no cookies
cruel girl
makes no effort to be fair
cruel girl
hides your underwear
cruel girl
cracks on your mother
she won’t remember you
who names dinner?
you weren’t even dinner
you were cheese and crackers
you will remember in a haze like fever
all the bites she stole before your
heart went stale
cruel girl
works hard for the money
cruel girl
can’t find the time
cruel girl
makes familiar excuses
cruel boy
examines his bruises
cruel boy
becomes confused
cruel boy
gets déjà vu in reverse
**
exceptional
resolved: we’re on the wheel
and pain is the main thing we feel
resolved: the petty fates
mean to trap us in our hungers and our hates
but you free me
when i see you walking by
you free me
like looking at the sky
you free me
couldn’t tell you how or why
you’re a kind of exception
i’ve loved
or i thought i was loving
i’ve lived
or so it seemed, at the time
myself
i have trouble forgiving
for all the ways i’ve tarnished
my own shine
may i ask you
a personal question
have you had
a f*cked-up day
don’t know why
your complaints and confessions
make me feel
less far away
but you see me
when you look me in the eye
you see me
like looking at the sky
you see me
couldn’t tell you how or why
you’re a kind of exception
**
amoeba
i have got a dead cicada
in a jar of alcohol
never sings too loud on sundays
never seems to sing at all
also got a green amoeba
shy of public scrutiny
left behind her petri mecca
took up residence in me
my amoeba, i can sense it
greening in me, feeding on me
symbiosis within reason
may not be a dread disease
supplement my dead cicada
with a horny trilobite
all i get are stony silent
horny fossil dreams at night
if i love you, green amoeba
you who manage to survive
will you love me back and will my
poor menagerie revive
my amoeba, i can sense it
greening in me, feeding on me
symbiosis within reason
may not be a dread disease
**
emperor
i was born with white skin, not black
i’ll be spared the worst of the attack
i was born with white skin, not brown
they go underwater, i go underground
the emperor does not believe
in accidents of fate
he believes his god is love
he believes your god is hate
he believes that all the murder he has done
was preordained
all done in jesus’s holy name
is that sane
people dreamed a land up for the free
people dreamed of peace and dignity
people gave their power to a king
we’ll be good and daddy will fix everything
the emperor does not believe
in niceties of law
he came and he conquered
all that he saw
we enthroned him two times over
and we turned our gaze away
now i dare you to watch his god at play
watch the flames
**
natural history
natural history museum
exhibits arranged by extinction event
so many kinds of life came before us but
we see our kind
we see our kind
we can freeze our eyes on the horizon
here was a boreal forest
here was a scalding sulfur sea
so many lands, right where you’re standing but
we see our kind
we see our kind
we can freeze our eyes on the horizon
sisyphus hauling his rock up the hill one more time
who will curate the exhibit for your bones and mine
wake up and open your eyes
look at your hands
when did they wrinkle
you haven’t changed
why won’t they look at you
we see our kind
we see our kind
we can freeze our eyes and see forever
**
ten of wands
off on a journey
mad journey
still trapped
in a bus station in albany
out of the rat race
through a start gate
still racing around in little circles
try meditation
meditation
on the ten of wands in the tarot
i ought to throw that
to throw that
sucker down
his face is buried
so buried
in the ten heavy staves that he carries
where is he going
just going
doesn’t know
and he hates not knowing
poor little figure
bent over
i wonder, did he choose that burden
how much further
‘til he throws his
burden down
my little spirit
no birthplace
no death date to write on a certificate
weary of running
still running
still running around like secretariat
house in the distance
in the distance
looks warm but then I can’t quite see it
what happens if i
just throw my
burden down
off on a journey
mad journey
in a country of only two dimensions
arms full of branches
for the crosses
pointing up and away from calvary
i am the figure
you’re the figure
we’re all just here to figure
out how to through those
to throw those
crosses down
**
heroes
a job for superman
a job for jesus
superman’s fiction and
jesus teases
look around you
you’ve been had
now there are forests falling
in your interest
now there are children falling
in your name
what will it take to make you mad
is it what you had in mind
you expected maybe superheroes
to explode out of a phone booth
throw a lasso, make them tell the truth
maybe streak across the sky
in bright primary colors
bringing freedom
god and commerce to the world
why ever bother with the outer reaches
take what the tv and the bible teaches
like it’s gospel
real as dirt
leave your elected leaders uncontested
to do the work of freedom unmolested
up to the moment
you get hurt
are you hurt enough to bleed
does the sight of blood surprise you
did you picture it so red
or imagine there would be so much
are you crouched in a trench
waiting for your superhero’s tender touch
or did you see him fly by
**
time was
time was
i thought that i had a heart
if my heart was bare
at least it was there
time was
i knew at least there was you
at least there was you
and that much was true
is it in the fury
is it in the hope
is it in the spaces
between the quarter notes
i can't hang my heart on love anymore
love lost love found
love lewd and love lethal
can't hang my heart on love anymore
time won't wait for me
and i don't wait for people
time was i thought the war was past
the war was past and the past was history
here is a fruit for crows to pluck
for wind to suck until love is a mystery
**
all songs © 2008 paula pryce (BMI) all rights reserved.
