1. |
We Too, Roar
10:40
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deep down
in the belly
of the beast
where they didn’t
tell us that we too
are prey
that we too roar
have little fires
that bellow and rage
and sweep and set
all that makes us
us ablaze
deep down
in the belly
of the beast
how can you
put out that
which you cannot
recognise its own scream?
how can you put fires
out when you
cannot recognise
their screams?
deep down
in the belly
of the beast
we once were warriors
now cowering suns
hiding from
mother courage
and so
it had to come to this
it had to take a soulstorm
chasing each of us
for the world to go under
water
whilst the mirrors came up
in each of our houses
and the clouds too they lower
and the magpies too
seared and singed
wings bandaged
crutches hobbled
along telephone wires
they too swoop
and surrounded us
in our hour
of resurrection
and we sit
cross legged
in pause position
to the buzz cut
of freshly
mowed grass
and we settle
into non syncopated
rhythms
of cups of afternoon tea
in the morning
and sex hops in bed
with a couple
any time
of the day
and we too
begin to talk
in mammal
when fun and joy
see saw
on swing sets
we too begin
to talk in mammal
and napkins
turn into straight jackets
for knifes and spoons
and chairs
huddle and become
hostages to an
unlit cafe
we too begin to
talk in mammal
and we summon the
under water people
to hoist the world up
with their tails
for they too
know of soulstorms
and the curse
of being loved
too much by the sea
deep down
in the belly
of the beast
where they didn’t
tell us that we too
are prey
it had to take a soulstorm
chasing each of us
for the world to go under
water
whilst the mirrors came up
in each of our houses
and we swirl and ride the waves
strong and supple swirls
we collide into other
swirls that become
valleys of butterflies
set free from the cage
and the swirls become
the ocean and we gulp
pieces of land
and the ocean
rides us
and we swirl and ride the waves
strong and supple swirls
we collide into other
swirls that become
valleys of butterflies
set free from the cage
and we pray
and we pray
for those that
cannot place
safety next to the word home
and
for the battered hordes
of women
chiseled wood
cut split bruised
into a position that could
look foetal or final
and we pray
and we swirl and ride the waves
strong and supple swirls
we collide into other
swirls that become
valleys of butterflies
set free from the cage
and we pray
that grandmother time
shows us mercy
has proven she does not wait for no man
and birthday candles are lit
and then blown out by solo hands
and black leather shoes weep
at the weight of not being
able to carry us to funerals
and dry up from not being worn
and we pray
deep down in
the belly of the beast
can you hear in the distance
a large steam boat
and as it nears
arms reaching out to a
sorry world
each of us in two places
at the same time
ready to collapse
into star things
and start over
deep down in
the belly of
the beast
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2. |
Firefly Jars
14:35
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Introduction
and the sky is
an up in smoke
colour
a fire engine river
red eye
colour
and we
gather
fire flies on
top of mountain
to pray
Piece 1
I woke up wanting
your chest a railing
for the soft landing
of my chest
our fingers
interlaced
as if
this was their
safe place
If your body was
half a continent
I would want to
wander it
not as a guest but
a voyager returning
to her homeland
your lips are pilgrims
unholy yet shelter still
not for the use of
prayer
see to me they are shaped
like my church
there are many gods
we can worship
not every arch
or doorway is meant
for everyone to enter through
I want
to feel the precipice
that point
where your bones
climb into the gloves
of skin
where your heart beat
where your heart beat
where your heart beats
so mine can begin
what is this jive
this jam
this traffic
of endorphins
these pheromones
and how long
does it take for them to wane?
I want
to feel the precipice
that point
where your bones
climb into the gloves
of skin
where your heart beats
so mine can begin
what is this jive
this jam
this traffic
of endorphins
these pheromones
and how long
does it take for them to wane?
do all the stories of lovers
have to end with a drive into the sunset?
or can some finish with a moon
embracing shadows
a pair of silhouettes
that know the dangers of flying too close to the sun
Piece 2
your palms are
holding
the whole of me up
I said
your palms are
holding
the whole of me
green
like
rainforest fern leaf
umbrella of my sky
the world is too hot
right now
you
you are the dew
the cucumber
to my skin
the running water to my bath
the hands speaking honey
to the 206 bones that carry
pain in my body
your eyes are windows
without the imposition
of curtains
you teach me
you teach me
you teach me how scripture
can be without bible
your eyes they speak to me
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we were the embryo
of a star
how we lit one another
how for millions and billions of years
and dove like pebbles into
one another’s ocean
how we never sunk
because we both offered up
our bodies as rafts
have you seen a moon disrobe
in front of her sun
it forces all the colours of the rainbow
to bow
you know my island
how to gather my wings
and alchemise
the lightning bolts
striking my sky
into fireworks
just for my viewing
so why then do you not know
how to stop dropping bombs
and tearing holes into my heart
your eyes
your eyes they speak to me
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we were the embryo
of a star
how we lit one another
how for millions and billions of years
and dove like pebbles into
one another’s ocean
how we never sunk
your eyes they speak to me
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we never sunk
because we both offered up
our bodies as rafts
how we were not just shells
on someone else’s sand
but housed a sizeable
portion of each other’s spirit
how this was the secret
to staying afloat
anchored
in the harbour of the other
I can see your palms pressing
firmly on the dressing
as if this gesture were
a kind of prayer
but I keep on bleeding
I remember now
the lovers manifesto
is that
we are the greatest
veterans of
a cold
cold
war
Piece 3
I studied you
in dolphin
all the angles
of you
I dove deep
into the grove
of your nails
I sipped
the neck
of your ocean
I told you
I told you
I told you
you are what
love
comes
from
the arch of
your story
stretches
beyond
lane of ocean
beyond
the hips
that cradled
man and
let him
loose
is before
parrots were made kings
before stained seconds
and dirty fences
I studied you
in dolphin
all the angles of you
I dove deep
into the grove
of your nails
I sipped
the neck
of your ocean
you
you sat
with night
on hard roads
you were
life assembled
from water
a mesh of light
in the eye
of the universe's
storm
a sleeping sun
and you
are known by name
and you
are here
to chase the land
back to the ocean
and reverse
the clown's
curse
Piece 4
can I lay across your sunset lap
and be held by arms that aren’t
my own just this once
for even a red wood longs to be
a bonsai tree sometimes
your arms they speak to me of
all that is good
like cinnamon
like cinnamon
and my grandma’s front door
I have
memorised each stain
on her pine wood like
I have
every pattern on her face
like how the
rivers and roads
she’s ever crossed
have found their way
to the heaven of her
and I think I
love you
like I love her
I think
I love you
bend all the vertebrae
of my spine
touch me like the soft folds
of the first fractals of light
like butter licking the
waistline of freshly baked bread
be the sea
be the sea
be the sea
whispering sweet nothings
of
it’s going to be okay
it’s going to be okay
it’s okay to be okay
bring hope to the world
make sure this black body
can fit in it
see that zebra vase on the
living room table
see how it is the only thing
I can own in a country
that won’t claim me
so please won’t you claim me
claim me
claim me
Piece 5
do not talk to me of war
when bombs are falling
from the sky
daffodils and dandelions
were gods
before the
primitive man
got hold of the
bible and turned
saint mary
into a witch
and
crafted
hell
as the
merchant
that
doesn't
sleep
do not talk to
me of war
when a
black man's
disco tears
on the freeway
become
his war song
he cries diamonds
from his mosaic wings
alongside him
the world's issues fall
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3. |
Creases of Gods
16:12
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we have been
Cupid’s arrows/
blue bottle
jellyfish like/
shooting balloon
sacs towards
the edge of
the water /
we have had
to learn how
to breath below
the sea a while /
how to hum to the
song of the
amoeba a while
/to the
protectors
of our pulse
you have
kept the
morsels
of us mortals
buoyant
while
our skin
coats
stretched
out as sea weed
rolled out
like
carpets
of endless
sand/
an amusement
park or a
museum
of memories
and myths
yawning
on the bed
of the screaming
ocean
covered
by shells
of
shelves
of
all the selves
we shelfed in/
when pain
outgrows
it’s own
host
it’s many
tentacles
are exposed
choking
and squeezing
every
one of our
arteries
pressing
hard on
a vessel
and
threatening
to burst
a capillary/
we are
raw and
red
and blue
and we know
we cannot
go back to
what once
was
can only
start over
often /
healing
ourselves
often /
when
we can hold
ourselves
on one hand
as small
and gods
on the other
equal to
all things
that are
also
in all
measures
god
we can hills hoist
hang high
and drip
dry
clean
the trauma
of
entire
bloodlines/
punctured
wounds
that
need
healing
often /
healing
needs starting over often/
so we
slip
off
the skin
cloak
octopus legs
rubbery like
tyres of rings
oily
and
pearly/
we must
undress
to the
sound
of her
intelligence/
she knows
how to be
a sacrifice
an honour often/
for the thing
that makes
us dense
will
evaporate
into the
moisture
of the air
eventually/
by
the good
will of the
wind
we will
travel/
when
our bodies
are bound
to the tar
of the earth
by the good
will of the
wind
we will travel/
we must
douse
the selves
that
can
no longer
be of service
in petrol
on the rocks
and hold
a bonfire
and
seperate the chaos
that is not
scared/
we must
burn
and
let ourselves
quiver /
to quiver
is feel
is to fall apart
is to speak the
language
of presence/
a dialect
that the
tongues
of the
flowers
talk
and
we must
each of us
arrive
slithering
away
from
our
polished
excuses
we must
arrive
on our
islands
another
shedding
a rebirth
on the sleepy
cove
of transformation
and soothe
ourselves
in the balm
of a gentleness
that the moon
in her tides
in all her shadows
and figures
has
taught us
all along
how to
awaken
we must
lay out
our booby traps
the loops
and the mazes
the freeway
sized sentences
with no brake pads
stuck in a frenzy
frantic peak traffic
anxiety
on replay/
and there’s the
long service
soldiers
fighting
for us
senselessly /
there is no
war
but with
our own selves
also on
repeat
endlessly/
but
we
each of us
forever
on the edge
of change
we must
give our soldiers
the order to hang
up their boots
and fall
into the
bosom
of the universe
and
surrender often/
we
all of us
must find
our song
in the sound
of the fan
and it’s
metal
propellers
pushed
soft
by
electric
waves
the
lullaby of
the dolphins
and the
hymn of the
seals
ring through
the turtles
in the water tank
if you listen
the song
will be
our
victory/
we are
creases of gods
who’ve recognised
themselves
enough to
return home
to our selves
we are occults
are our amens
to our own ceremonies
on repeat often/
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4. |
Sweet Sticky Revolution
07:23
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Piece 1
today
today
blue grey
elephants
float
through
the canopy
that is sky
or perhaps
they are
puffs of smoke
that hold
the secret
life of things
there is an art
to holding
light and fluff-ily
please origami
fold your joy
into a crane
made
of paper-wings
if love really
is the essence
remaining after we’ve
de-masked
and turned
our bodies
inside out
so we carried
our flesh
the other way
so too is love
then a verb
to hold
light and fluff-ily
today
a cloud looked like
someone’s buttocks
and legs
and I laughed
that snorting kind of
laughter
and despite
it all
I felt that
that line
that line
that connects tippy toe
to belly button
belly button
to crown
that makes the
whole body feel good
line
and this tasted
like part of the revolution
sweet sticky silly syrup
Piece 2
the isle of lovers
the isle of lovers
can be located in
the lakes carved
out of the ridges
of two backs
first
colliding
second
collapsing
and
third
climbing
into
one another
this valley
this valley
is a kind
of paradise
Piece 3
there are women folk who
are favoured
now what I mean is
there are women folk
who can make
the sun blush/
whose spirits
can rise to
the surface
of skin/
can glow
maple
and honey
cinnamon
and guava /
there are women folk
who must have been created
on one of God’s
really really good days/
when God must have
been in her laboratory
at a cove on the coast
of paradise surrounded
by waterfalls and
hot springs
a parade
of birds
and spice
infused tea leaves
platters of papayas
held inside the
ring of a rainbow/
what I mean is
there are women folk
who are chapels
who can take the breath
out of a room
by the clusters of stars
gathering to pray
in the alter of their retinas/
you see these women folk
are only for the purpose
of worship
for only they hold
the kind of reverence
that make even the wind
stop it’s course
to courtesy
at the nape of their necks/
not because they
are definitions of Gods
but because they are decent/
what I mean is
there are women folk
who can drape the sky
like a scarf around
the curves of their
bodies/
whose cheekbones
are the shapes of
clouds blossoming
light and warm
like the last rays
of sun before
nightfall
or perhaps
more like
the peaks of
mountains
made clear
after the rain
on these woman
folks faces
you cannot
wage war
in fact they are quiet
hurricanes that
settle the battle
within they
can calm demons
and put the devil to
bed
these women folk are
mostly made out
of magic dust
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Australian Art Orchestra Australia
With an emphasis on improvisation, the AAO explores the meeting points between disciplines and cultures, and imagines new musical forms to reflect the energy and diversity of 21st century Australia. The AAO explores the interstices between the avant-garde and the traditional, between art and popular music, and between electronic and acoustic approaches. ... more
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