1. |
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2. |
Kamiak Rose
03:04
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Muffled breathin’ in the Mornin’ mist,
Incense Cedar glowin’ red on the cliffs,
hard-knuckled hands hold hard-earned ribs,
RoseMarie Exist
Grizzled & gunshy, sharp-knife flint,
she bloomed like thistle, I stuck like lint,
those green eyes hide behind a westward squint,
RoseMarie Exist
Old as my ocean, old as my skin
overturned tables, I’m older than this
breakin’ the frames & burnin’ the prints screamin’
“RoseMarie Exist.”
it’s August endings & blistered lips & Charlotte Rooms still restless,
Rockwood rainsoaked & Newport bliss... RoseMarie Exist
Threadbare bookshelf & old breakfast
smokestained pages, coffee & grit
flour & oil’s a lean grocery list
RoseMarie, exist
Sordid September, the woodstove’s lit
dust off the oilskin, coat still fits, then
blow on the coals til my soul glows again &
RoseMarie Exists
cuz Lilac Queen, you’re the Waltz I missed, a soft-set sun a mouthful of myth
Small green gloves born Gold Rose Hymns, RoseMarie
Tobacco stainin’ my fingertips,
burnin’ mouth, my tongue on my lips, she says
“I been rollin’ mine filterless” I say:
“open your window & scream to the east
if you’ve forgotten these mountains or the road to me,
let me dust off the table, clear the passenger seat,
RoseMarie.”
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3. |
First To Go
03:42
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4. |
Charlotte Street
03:16
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Charlotte Street - A.Forrest
It’s snowing over Charlotte Street an
Steptoe’s settled down
and the stars are frozen solid
and the streets don’t make a sound
and I’ll smile just like Dylan,
if you’ll melt like Sarah Lowndes
oh if I survive November
I’ll be the only thing left, in this town
October spent so effortless,
it couldn’t leave without a sound
so it blew out like an easterly
on the last flight headin’ south
and I can’t cure these calloused hands or
curse your lonely mouth
I’m just tryin’ to survive November,
I’m just tryin’ not to let myself down
mornin breaks on Maple Street,
ya gotta keep those curtains closed
well these sidewalks still remember,
and these streets won’t let you go
the bricks stare back with crooked teeth,
my coffee’s gettin hard to hold
Oh if I survive November,
just let me know when you wanna know
It’s snowin’ over Charlotte Street,
and Steptoe’s settled down
and I can barely make out Kamiak
in her white winter wedding gown
& there’s not much changed in paradise,
so how’s your Puget sound?
I’m nearly through November,
but I ain’t sayin you should wait around
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5. |
Pendleton, Oregon
02:13
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I been dreamin' of a lakeshore & a pendleton overcoat,
snow settlin' on Jasper Pine while I follow you up the road,
I been thinkin' bout a fireplace and a chimney whistlin' smoke &
the way you curl up next to me on Kamiak's southern slope
I been ponderin' the Ponderosas in the evenin monochrome
with her hazy grays & lazy days of eatin' what we've grown
& I've had the luck of a larkspur who's seeds have just been sown
by the well-worn hand of a broken man and the only love that he's known
Darlin' you got the kind of soul Butch Cassidy couldn't steal,
you could start a heartbreak Bogart would be hard-pressed to conceal
you were born as tough as Dixie, lived through love like a battlefield,
if your dreams aren't yet blown to smithereens, I'd love for you to let me make 'em real,
If I could see the evergreen shine in your Inland Empire eyes each night
& spend my mornin's alongside you with a loaf of bread & a sunrise,
there's no dollar I'd need again, cuz no fortune could buy,
the feelin' of your freewheelin' fingers intertwined in mine.
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6. |
Soothsinger, Sundancer
03:05
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You were barefoot on the mornin’ we were married.
Backroads - we were runnin’ outta gasoline.
We chainsmoked from Idaho to Abilene.
The antidotes evaporate like turpentine.
I was stormy eyed, riot-minded, gnawing on nostalgia-
you were singin’ in your sleep at night like a bird lost in the Dahlias.
We were faultless, fallen, august, empty, sleepin’ on cold canvas,
we strangled lines & tangled vines & southern faces surround us
singin’
“Soothesinger, sing me to sleep
unbind my eyelids & drag me down deep
bury my burdens in your blood orange leaves
soothesinger, sing me to sleep.”
Sundance, you deserved better love.
Sundance, soft-pack camels & Drinas
swallow all the southern dust & exhale all the salt,
when I wash ashore in Essaouira know it’s not your fault.
I came home to Kamiak, I slept til February.
We stole each other’s clothes & stained our lips on thimble berries, now
there’s an eloquence to autumn, sober hymns & “God, prepare me”
I’ll be sleepin in that fog in that field below Rose Marie’s singin’
“Soothesinger, sing me to sleep,
unbind my eyelids & drag me down deep
bury my burdens in your blood orange leaves
soothe singer sing me to sleep-
Brown eyed bird worship love, drag home your feet
Serve the black Southern dust, play the retreat.
Brown-eyed bird worship love, drag home your feet
Serve the black Southern dust, sing me to sleep.”
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Forrest VanTuyl Goldendale, Washington
Forrest VanTuyl is a Western songwriter, poet, and working cowboy based in the Inland Northwest. His work has been featured in the New York Times, at The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and he has written music for the US Forest Service.
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