Category Archives: Poetry/Lyrics

Cindervoice, Poetry/Lyrics

Poem: “In Utero” (2014)

I pray 	my efforts be
			fruitful enough;
		my habits be
			strong enough;
		You be kind enough
			I not lead my child
			to grief.

I pray 	my habits be
			strong enough;
		my foresight be
			long enough;
		when the chasm opens up
			I not lead my child
			to grief.

I pray 	my foresight be
			long enough;
		the signs be
			clear enough;
		when the demons decide to come
			I can help my child
			learn to be free.

I pray 	my efforts be
			fruitful enough;
		my habits be
			strong enough;
		You be kind enough
			I not lead my child
			to grief.

Published as lyrics for Cindervoice’s You Are the Hand EP, 2014.

GODHEADSCOPE, Poetry/Lyrics

Poem: “Medusa In the Cistern” (2011)

How long
can you hold your breath?

Two minutes?
Two thousand years?

The city sits
upon your neck—

snakes,
so still
suspended
upside-down

in drinking water—

saliva
now a nutrient

feeding grand machines.
Modern industry rushing
past your memory,

quaint,
unthreatening
fragment of nostalgia
that you are;

frozen,
beheaded

as you are.

Published as lyrics for GODHEADSCOPE’s Patience EP, 2011.

Cindervoice, Poetry/Lyrics

Poem: “Pass Not That Way Again” (2010)

“Where one can no longer love,
there one should pass by.”
Though memory aches for former shapes,
pass not that way again.

Human curves and fingerprints
should not be cast in corners.
The huddled form is not for you.
Pass not that way again.

Where surprise has fallen mute,
there no gods will grow.
Those spirits have all lost their breath.
Release their spent air from your lungs.

Fever dreams too tightly held
deserve only your tears.
Lay to ground their will to death.
Pass not that way again.

Steps ahead, voices resound
that beckon us to being,
forgive us our misshapen pasts,
and welcome us in changing.

“Where one can no longer love,
there one should pass by.”
Though memory turns to clasp cold lips,
pass not that way again.

Published as lyrics for Cindervoice’s Before the Turn LP, 2010. Includes quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Walter Kaufmann translation.

Cindervoice, Poetry/Lyrics

Poem: “Forget To Grieve” (2014)

I still lie on my side of the bed.
The dog still curls
in the place she curled
when she curled behind your legs.

Her ears stand up at every sound and
my heart leaps to meet you.

I am aching for the day
I forget to grieve.

The column of moonlight
from the window over the bed
illuminates every speck of dust;
every memory overhead.

Every moment I think of you
is a moment I won’t sleep.

I am aching for the day
I forget to grieve.

I still lie on my side of the bed.
The dog still curls
in the place she curled
when she curled behind your legs.

You were the reason I looked ahead.
Now the future haunts my dreams.

I am aching for the day
I forget to grieve.

Published as lyrics for Cindervoice’s Forget To Grieve single, 2014.

Cindervoice, Poetry/Lyrics

Poem: “Cinders In the Throat” (2010)

There are many voices
inflected in your own:
every intonation
an echo.
Notes shedding their ashes;
cinders in the throat.
Something long forgotten
now glows.

There are many voices
harnessed through your throat,
remembering their calling—
breath burning.
Every new beginning:
a borrowed melody;
a spark of recollection
opening.

There are many voices
inflected in your own:
every intonation
an echo.
Notes shedding their ashes;
cinders in the throat.
Something long forgotten
now glows.

Published as lyrics for Cindervoice’s Before the Turn LP, 2010.