It’s just a placeholder. Somewhere a header and beneath a footer and between and betwixt some random stumbling. He has been pottering around of late, tangled in the usual threads of fancy, maybe pedantic, maybe procrastinating, certainly diffused and confused and settling into old ways with poor manners. The winter this year has come upon…
Shored Up
On the Eastern side of the wood, with the sun just gone down over the hill. The rock is wet and cold and slippy, a bare line of slate ninety degrees to the shore, and well away from the path. I know it because I was here before, and skidded across its surface many times,…
Clamour
Unused to this cold, and unused to this swing of things. A simple patchwork man, more breath and less reason. A country that has thrown off its clothes and sanity, running cursed between the cars of a real capital. Not like our capital, our soft and embarrassed low fixtures Our double-chinned talkers and stricken lenders.…
Just to Say
Just to say, in some other way, With music in my ears, And raindrops light as tears Today, today. The boiler abruptly stops, the dryer’s rumbling ceases. The dishwasher sloshes to a halt, the microwave beeps and then. Domestic silence finally. With nothing to add, the shadow-dragging man wanders the cold nights. Closed hands in…
Look Alive
Demo (snippet): [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/lookAlive.mp3|titles=Look Alive] you’re so worn out everybody look alive everybody look alive everybody look alive you come, you come you’re too worn out you won you won I know I know everybody look alive everybody look alive everybody look alive
Star Reaching Preachin
demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/starReachingPreaching.mp3|titles=Star Reaching Preaching] Keep it in order Keep on the border Keep it for me and I will need no other. Ready for motion. Ready devotion. Ready to try your latest ‘Drink Me’ potion. I know it’s under- understood, that this situation is no good. I know it’s over- over-done, this Deja Vu is…
The Blank Slate
Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/BlankSlate.mp3|titles=Blank Slate] It’s a long wait, for the blank slate, to begin to, make ammends to everybody talking, without cables, disconnected, unaffected, wishing they were alright- not so uptight, not so clued out, not so ignorant, telling others’ stories going global, going postal, going everywhere and anywhere broken, understatement, needs replacement, needs a long…
Detour
Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/detour.mp3|titles=Detour] chords: strum each couplet 8 times quickly d 4 5 2 0 a 5 7 3 2 chorus: C G e 3 3 b 0 0 g 0 0 d 2 0 a 3 2 e – 3 I’m going all the way back home, I’m going to make it there alone. I’ll…
Not Finished Yet
Chords: A E (with 0-3-0 Hon/Poff on the A string) Then C D for the ‘chorus’ Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/NotFinishedYet.mp3|titles=Not Finished Yet] World on your shoulders Weight on your chest. Getting ever older, But you’re not finished yet. They say it’s gone, stay calm, right? Words on the airwaves, Longest sentence yet. Spent more than you’ll ever…
Real Heart
[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Huh.mp3|titles=Huh?]Huh? So a verse- Am G D (fingerpicked) then… G Bm C G as a chorus The verse and chorus don’t sit that well, not a totally natural transition, but it does sound ok. Then lyrics… I guess it’s a rest from ourselves. Must be a test to see what is real. I should have…
The Lease
We are not owners. Despite the forms you just filled out. Despite the full support of the finest judges. The money in your pockets. The land outside your door. The car in your driveway. The heart in your chest. You do not own, When it comes to rest. What makes you think You are a…
The Critic
When she pressed on her glasses and drew the words near Their shape and their meaning began to ring clear The humdrum around her then faded away And her mind drifted back to an earlier day Where raucous and ready with small expectations She grew where her people had raised generations Her youth and her…
Season Shift
[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/seasonShift.mp3|titles=Season Shift] Oh, have you landed, have you stopped? When no one demanded that you dropped. Autumn leaves are falling at our feet. And summer’s rays are running out of heat. Oh, our season’s out of fashion now. Slowly reasons shouted quieten down. Weathered trees are waiting for their wind. Can’t stand up if you…
Limbo Bimbo
Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/limboTown.mp3|titles=Limbo Town] There’s ghosts out in the ocean, enough to make it swell. And the waves they go a rolling, from heaven down to hell. I know I’m not alone here, wonder if I’m under some spell? I know I’m not alone here- I wonder if I’m under some spell? Now there’s postcards in…
All Tracks Lead to Hear
Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/allTracks.mp3|titles=All Tracks Lead to Here] In the image of a love, a parody of plainness, I was knocking around, suffering from sameness. On an edge, on a corner, on a line. Now the sun is raised up, over ruins in back yards. That centuries ago, laid low by old hands. In a flash, in…
Your Life
Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/noOption.mp3|titles=Your Life] Here is nothing if it makes you want to go, Is nothing if it makes you want to leave to get away and feel alive. I say nothing and I’m rooted to the spot, Say nothing while you’re standing in the doorway looking like the road is on your mind. And oh,…
Worth
I can’t quite put my finger on it. The value of what’s in my hands I guess. I look away to see what others pick. Can’t accept that they might pay something less. The word on the wire is all so relative. A reference point is nowhere to be seen. The labels on loves are…
Amnesia
[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/amnesia2.mp3|titles=amnesia2] And it won’t go right away It won’t go anyhow Can’t forget what has been said Or bury everyone in sand Streets are crossing through my head Traffic jams at every bend. Roads converge in tangled webs Lights go green and then go red. You can go build some walls Experiment with your architecture…
See You
[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cu.mp3|titles=See You] Brief Lives, surprised. Lately, closed Eyes. Soft touch, sweet rush. Wasted, pulled punch. See you, Follow through. See you, Feel So blue. Who spoke? Bad joke. Hardly, half broke. Good times, good things. Poor rhymes, round swings. See you, follow through. See you, feel so blue.
To surmise
Vacant A metronome beats hollow time. Hollow time, high time… I was on my way. Until everything went a little pale and flipped. And now my funds run low and I sit lazy and restless. But I have always been restless… Does it matter what I do between bouts? Writers create fictions, with ideas and…