Out in the Bathyard. : 2013

Sunday, June 2, 2013

I'm Gonna Hire Michael

Happy Birthday to Padre

Love your son, John

(Sung to the tune of I’m Going To Hire A Wino)

I’m gonna hire Michael to decorate our home

So you’ll feel more at ease here and you won’t need to roam

With bluegrass, country, folk and blues - all the music you can stand

Maybe you’ll take out that ‘ol banjo and join up with the band

There’ll be hookups for the power washer in every single room

So when it’s time to clean things you won’t need no broom

And dear ‘ol Mr Radio will sing his l’il heart out

As you do your yard work, plant the garden,

Clean the boat and walk about

Doorways will be customized like your flashy, fancy cars

Just one push on a button and they’ll open near and far

The Jag, the Porsche, the Viper and now the Lexus, too

It might not fit in your garage, but a Hummer’s next for you

The air you breathe into your nose will be carefully controlled

With just the right humidity, so there won’t be no mold

The days and nights of suffering from allergies and snot

Are forever washed away with a of snort from neti pot

Once a week they’ll send a van to fill the licorice stash

And on the way back out, they’ll take out all yer trash

The freezer will be fitted with the answer to your dreams

Unlimited production of OBMB ice cream

Your bedspread will be replaced by a windsurfer sail

And when you go to walk around, you’ll leave a water trail

In the closet you may find that your double-breasted’s gone

So stretch it out, zip it up, and put your wetsuit on

The basement walls will be torn down, put a big screen in its place

So you see all the action of explosions in outer space

You’ll see all your favorite actors as they shoot the bad guys down

‘Cos you’ve got the largest movie theater anywhere in town

And of all the alterations that anyone might perform

I think you will agree from in your house so warm

That the greatest decorations and architectural touch

Are just your friends and family who love you oh so much.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Slow Down

CHORUS:

G C G F C G

people won't you slow down, slow down and smell the flowers

people won't you slow down, and take a look at what's around

Have you ever sat and watched the sky/On a slow and lazy afternoon

Sat and watched the soft, white clouds above?

Feel the sun against your skin and on your face

Let its warmth penetrate your shell/And open up to the joy it freely offers

Lay down flat against the ground/press your back into the fragrant Earth

Rest your head in a pile of leaves/dried golden in the daylight

Roll around and somersault, or turn a couple of cartwheels

And let the sounds of quiet sing you to sleep

CHORUS

G C G F C

remember back when you were young, doing what you wanted to do

G C D

spent your time with friends and by yourself

when did we lose that happiness and why did we choose to give it up

when we could keep the magic in our lives

well there's no need to worry friend/you know your days of love don't have to end

throw off your clothes and put on a smile/let's dance and sing for a little while

laugh in the nighttime, laugh all day/raise your voices and let me hear you say

CHORUS ...people won't you slow down

Paper Napkin

Delaware Water Gap

(G)Look how far we've (D)gone today (C)walking hand in (G)hand

(G)Aye and our (D)footprints in the (C)sand so (D)swiftly (C)blow (G)away

CHORUS:

(G)Stare through the (D)window back to the (F)days gone (C)by

Paper napkin wipes a teardrop from my eye

Through my life I've seen, so many wonderous things

(G)Memories that (D)soothe my soul and (Bb)memo(C)ries that...

D A G D

(D)Walking by the (A)ocean, waves (G)splashing at my (D)feet

(D)The feel of (A)sun-warmed pebbles (G)swishing with the (A)water's (D)beat

(G)Sailed across an (D)ocean that (C)sparkled in the (G)sun

(G)Bathed me in a (D)brilliant gold when (C)every (D)day was (G)done

CHORUS

Descended a dark cavern to find what's under me

Looking for some answers, and what I found was deep

I found love and hate and happiness, some sadness and some doubt

More goodness than the badness, are a few that I found out

Climbed atop a mountain and surveyed the vast expanse

Seen the people running 'round, a great colony of ants

As distant noises carry on rushing in their frantic pace

I sit relaxed upon a rock just makin' notes about the race

About Having a Wife

(E)The sun goes (D)down and (A)rests in western (E)chair

Your soft hair in waves of brown smells of ocean air

When your body touches down, every curve is there

When your breath comes out, there's music in the air

E C#m D A

I have seen you dance, drawing curves of sound

The light of your smile, casts a shine all around

I never will forget, what a treasure I have found

You've never heard a voice so fair, though it's never loud

CHORUS (E)So this is what (Bm)life is like

(A)When you have a (E)wife

Think I'm going to like this life

Love it day and night

It's hard to think about the years before we met

And I wonder how much better marriage gets

I'm thankful for the love that binds us with its threads

You are on my mind from daybreak until bed

It's in the smallest things you do, thoughtful and such

A dinner planned for two, we sit out on the porch

Beauty in my day reminds me of you so much

There's never been a feeling like your loving touch

CHORUS

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Mother's Day 2013, Four Generations

We know you're not feeling as spry

Yet always you try.

You inspire and delight and gleam

And bearing like a queen.

The girls hardly know how blessed they are

To have such a Nana not far.

Plus Gramp's such a fortunate fellow

To have the flower you are, sunny yellow.

Laura and I are so lucky

To have such a Nana so plucky.

We're so happy to have you around

And grateful for whom Gramp had found.

Thanks for being a wonderful chatter

No matter the topic or matter.

Thanks for making your wonderful daughter

And letting three year olds swim Evergreen's water.

Happy Mother's Day!

…

For Laura, Mother's Day 2013. .

First one, then two, now three mermaids live by the sea.

You are our mama

We wish sometimes that there were more of you to go around

But that's only 'cause we love you so.

In time, we'll know there always was plenty.

As Lilah, I'm aware now that you are a separate being,

And am more relaxed with knowing you're still here.

Crying just lets you know how it feels to learn this, though we are all still One.

Thank you so for wanting me here, to bring alive a family of five, with my happiness and curiosity, and joy.

As Sasha, I'm the girl between, and only need to have my special time, and patience,

And before long, I'll have outgrown these instants of simply wanting to be the only at times.

I just need that extra moment to recombobulate, this I get from you, who needs it, too ...then it's all smiling eyes and outpouring love and laughter, impish.

As Aviva, thank you for letting me be the helpful big sister and mother's helper, yet always with special times to just be the ray of light that I am.

I am able to love, draw, sing, dance, story, and live up to name as songbird of spring because our home has been warm and rich, and loving like earth and sun, and sky.

Our Papa picked a keeper.

Happy mother's from your loving daughters. .

…

For Madre, Sung to "my Bonnie lies over the ocean".

(Boggie being Grandma's nickname that has gained family notoriety)

My boggie lives by the ocean,

my boggie lived by a lake,

My boggie's retiring slowly,

A fun retirement to make.

You can teach grandchildren some stories,

And plenty a craft to create,

Glue buttons on fancy paper,

With personal themes that are great.

Your kayaks are ready for launching

The roads for taking long walks,

The beach's all full golden cringles,

And fireside singing and talks.

So get yourselves settled in one home

To have extra time for your kin

The seven grandkids will enjoy

Having it so, it's "win-win".

They want to learn songs from pushcart

Or how to paddle around the sea,

Read Harry the dirty dog

With our boggie by the sea.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love, the cast and crew.

Paddlin' Song

Isle of Iguana, Middle Caicos, (while lost for 5 hours)

Audience repeat phrases. To the steady rhythm of a kayak being paddled for hours.

Played slowly, soulful or reggae

(G)So may the waves (may the waves) keep rockin' (D)me (rocking’ me)

and may the (G)winds blow behind (D)me

and may the (G)ocean always be (D)green

so they will (G)all together (D)bring me where I want to (C)be

may the sun/rest his eye

and may the clouds/overhead fly

and may the rains/keep me dry

so they will all together bring me home by and by

may my eyes/clearly see

and may my hands/always be free

may my back/always be strong

so they will all together bring me home where I belong

where I belong…repeat and fade

Going Home (from New Zealand)

D C G D

Been five months and almost six/our time is winding down

D C G D

Can’t believe it’s half a year since we pulled into this town

Dmaj7 D7 G A

Seems that only yesterday excitement was all new

D C G D

But I sure am glad to be here and enjoy this time with you

We learned to drive with comfort on the left side of the road.

Say "good on you" and "hey you going"- once were new, now old

Our bodies’ rhythm so confused by seasons that are switched

That craving, yearning travel scratch has certainly been itched

Bm C G

CHORUS: We’re going home, familiar faces and sights

Bm C G

Going home, with a new lease on life

Bm A F C G

Eyes open round, might even see something new in our hometown

F C G F

Creating our own sacred place, know the world is a brighter place C D D C G D

Saw the Southern Cross one night while sailing Taupo Lake

That starry constellation showed us courses we should take

Lost our way in bay of islands sailing through the isles

Finally found our harbor, set our anchors for a while

In Rotorua feel the spirit, jambalaya in the street

Wander down Tutanakai, looking for a treat

I’m grateful for the company of all our new found mates

Invited us to dinner and told of trips that we should take

CHORUS: Going home…

Saw my wife, lovely Laura, come into her own

Jewelry in a gallery, and weaving here at home

People calling left and right to feel her healing touch

She makes our house a home and how I love her oh so much.

CHORUS

Faded Jeans

An afternoon tune.

A kettle whistles honey tunes

Fmaj7

As spices fill the air

Places set with painted clay mugs

F C G

Sunlight on the woven wicker chairs

Hey there, stranger, how ya doing

Are you having an enjoyable day

Yes I'm fine, thanks, all is well and

There's something I want to say

Some will look at puddles and see reflections of the sky

Some will run out shoeless, never waiting for the world to dry

Raindrop ripples make their way to lap against our muddy toes

Concentric circles spread like growth rings

Seasons marked by trees that grow

I've a pair of faded jeans and I don't think that they're mine

Grass-stained jeans with holes like smiles that have grown

with you through time

Out of the very same old pile of clothes

Crawled to me of its own accord

Was the very same old t-shirt it's been too long since you've worn

Don Bodden and the Three Sisters

(A legend of the Cayman Islands)

With a reggae rhythm, brightly

(G)Well, Don Bodden woke and

(C)saw the lovely (G)day

(G)The breeze was blowin’ (C)warm and it was (D)calling him to play

He (G)ate some eggs and (Bm)toast,

put (C)on swimming (A7)clothes (G)Took himself a (D)raft and (C)headed (D)for the (G)sea

That day was somewhat different than most

For the waves were crashing hard upon the coast

But he paid it never mind, and wasted no more time

Lay upon his raft, and headed out to sea

CHORUS:

(G)Get up; go (F)down to the (C)rhythm of the (D)sea

Get up; go down, to where the fishes be

(G)Let the waves come rollin’ (Am)by as the (C)bright sun rises (A7)high

(G)Don Bodden left his (A)sandals by the (C)coco(D)nut (G)tree

Once he pass the rough and tumble of the surf

Says he “I’ll off and lay my head down first”

Close his tired eyes, and breathe a restful sigh

As the raft ketch wind and slowly starts to drift.

As he in sleep, the land begin to shrink

The man and raft head eastward in a blink

The bustle of Georgetown is very soonly drowned

By the deep blue splashing sounds of the Endless Drink

CHORUS

The edge of raft got caught upon some rock

So there it stayed while Don went sliding off

No more did drift that man

For by the Great Creator’s hand

Each one became an island on the spot

This story tells of how it came to be

The land Cayman we know as islands three

For Don became the Brac,

And the raft stayed right out back

Since then Little Cayman’s where she ought to be

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Tall pine dance

Tall Pine Dance (A riddle)

Tall pines dance

Under clouds somersaulting

Clowning white over blue

Leaves, dry and brown, rise upwards

Clapping hands and drop again.

A rocky face grimaces, gritting

Its granite teeth

as it slowly assumes a blank expression.

The bright flame leaps, bellows a Lion’s laugh.

The matchstick smokes, breathing its last.

Broad and stretch, mirror the clouds

Running gaily with the waves.

Wooden arms embrace each other in a

Tall pine dance.

The Moon at Harmon's Harbor

The Moon at Harmon’s Harbor, Maine,

Dedicated to C. Chafe and family.

Rolling rock before rolling rocks

Beer precedes bedrock

Sockets and pockets on this beached body

Bleached so tediously

Recline on the conch couch

To admire non-specific skies, the playground for a charismatic one

O pale and gentle, you of the water and air

As seagulls flock together, so does the dancer gyrate gyrate

Rocking her hips insistently, irresistibly drawn to you

And I, born of fire, push back a matted mane

To gaze at you, also

Then look to your partner as she dips in your arms

So milky white and almost transparent

My eyes, my cheeks burn suddenly

And I hurl insult after indignation splashing innocently,

swallowed up and drowned in that watery waltz

An insistent constancy fertilizes my furrowed brow

Seeds awaken to this mysterious scene

Puzzled and lost, then reassured by

A voice that I realize has been laughing for sometime now

Not menacingly, but teasing kindly

“This dance is not for you to watch, but to dance”

Sand Castles in Mahabilipurim, India

The sun opens his bright eye

To look lovingly upon the morning

As restful waves retreat to their seabed

And we paddle our fanciful painted boats with their

Shimmering nets of light to shore.

Stretching stiffened limbs, we walk the sand’s unblemished face awhile

Still accustoming to a sunny morning

Now it is time for play.

Piles of grains, gold and grey take form in curious hands which work ever so deliberately

And with understated care (a beach is but particles of sand)

We build hopes as confessional words and eagerly await answers to

Sand-posed wonderings.

They come. They always do.

(who can hear the Earth’s whispered secrets in their inner ear?)

As the sun brews, closing his eye in anticipation of a sound night’s rest,

So do we, child scientists and architects, so do we call it a day (for we are on those terms)

Walking along the beach, we turn and can only smile as

Our dreams wash away (nothing is forgotten)

Approaching the sea happy, cheeks glowing with the air

Our brothers and sisters reach our for our hands sending sparkles of water into the warm air

We clasp hands briefly (a drop dances for but a moment before it disappears into the sea)

Laughing, and then…

Waves wash rhythmically up an unbroken shore.

Parking Spaces

(set to the cadence of shopping cart wheels in a parking lot)

Cup clopping mindlessly, tossed in the wind

Light posts with baskets to guard them from rocks

A lone car is parked in a spot at the edge of a wind-dusted,

Asphalted lawn of a lot

An airplane flies roaringly, wings motionless

Over a bird far below in the sky, its curved wings cupping the air

Heavily humid

The sky presses down, smothering noises with blankets of wet

Even my vision seems darkened by clouds

Or dusted with gusto by fine wind-borne sand

The heart of the town is a dull background pulse

That comes into hearing while sitting in thought

In exhaustion and day’s recollection

Sitting and solving the brick sidewalk maze

Following grass walls with unfocused eyes

Come to a rest at the red brick road’s end

III

He’s squinting again with neck leaning still

Motionless rest for hours on end. Windows face forwards

‘Tween newly leaf’d trees and a quiet room nearly unfurnished

The light coming in

White one o’clock greyness

Dust-covered window glass two on the wall

Floorboards creak tunefully. Peeling wallpaper, its petals fold gracefully, almost dried

A curious breeze pokes through a small space under the frame

And teases the curtains, white and unwary

Awhile

Present today is a fellow names Carl, coming from up Valley Road

“Nothing to do so I thought I’d stop by, push me some carts for a while.”

“I talk to myself when I’m working, you know.”

And I do the same, sometimes even a song

Two Pepsi colas in mist-covered cans, one by the window to finish in time

A flash of gold wrapper, some butts for m’boy

who’s hot in this weather from working so hard.

Take off your jacket, your navy blue warmth

Tell me of sister, or parents long gone.

It’s morning it’s daytime, the sun’s up again

Like birds looking down as they’re watching the ground

Circling round for a time

These birds don’t have wings, they don’t soar in the wind

Scraping brown heels on a sandpaper sidewalk

Wearing the soul down to dirt

A file of bushes trembles and shimmers

Waiting in line waiting in line

Here in this valley of merchant machines

This island consumer consumed by his

Very own hand

Stopped in the aisle, she’s looking for that

(that store built of boards from her boat)

Which her eyes stare right through

Droning a deep-throated note

A note in extension

Steady, unfaltering until now. It stops

I stop in midstep, my attention arrested on account of jaywalking

Jaywalking with the direction fo air

Like the litter of levity, floating and turning

Little lost pieces of leftovers

Anonymous gymnasts expressing their sentiments of gaiety to an

Asphalt audience in meditation as superlative grasses gaze wispily

In a Djini dream

VII

Until the light does out

Waved out by a non-plussed power supply

Merely gone off to muse in another room for the moment

I waved the gnat away (for the 18th or 25th time)

“I gave at the hospital. Leave me be.” And looked at a corner patch of pink flowers.

No thoughts stemmed from this either.

“Where do they all go is the question as I see it,” humming some tune in a minor key

Where do they all go. Would it help to build a community for a group that consists

Of people who could be alone in Time’s Square on New Year’s Eve?