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Somebody New, Somebody Now

Under my arm, books full of winding words.
Wonderful yarns, pointing out to other worlds.
Under some spell, can’t see past this week.
Giving it hell, inheriting from the meek.

Driving from the back seat, car won’t slow down.
Waking from a bad dream, the face beside me clears my frown.
Can’t stop thinking, my head spins when I try.
Someone is sinking, keep me in your sky.

Passage of time, pointing out of view.
Massage my mind, push away the blue.
Message inside, some promise to myself.
Guessing I’m right, to chase or follow it.

The devil’s in the detail, but I’m too close to the screen,
To see real clearly, the way things are not what they seem.
The pattern is repeating, In spaces in my mind.
Habits are deleting, the place I used to find.

Rummage around, find a reason for this mess.
Hear some sound, hear the tune there less and less.
Cover new ground, open up and out.
Throw away mirrors, get away and get about.

Somebody is preaching, balanced in the flow.
Burning off the leeches, they can’t go where I go.
The pattern is repeating, no matter how hard I try,
But I am not retreating, keep me in your sky.

In your sky, off your bow,
Somebody new, somebody now.

In your sky, off your bow,
Somebody new, somebody now.

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and there it goes…

And there it goes now again,
Trinkets and snippets,
Whipped up in a windless whippet,
Caught and carried through dreamless air
To a foreign lair.

And here I hold you tight again,
As if today’s embrace could shorten
Tomorrow’s distance and the odds of coming back,
Where dark is dearly held and clearly black.

And in an age I do not know;
But who could put their finger on,
Or be the zeitgeist of-
This exploded view, this swirling shifting rage.

I would like to say I caught,
A glimpse of form in all I saw,
An edge, a purpose, to the order of things,
But I saw naught, my head just rings.

My dreams annoint my day with shadowed balm,
And at the centre churns the central calm.
I copy, paste, and cut myself apart,
I wander, waste, and mute my wounded heart.

You go again where some wind dictates,
And hanging over count the pastries baked.
The guilt I drift in ranges far from this-
The roads from where I lie to where I kiss.

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Been a While

It has been a while. Since last me met. I passed you in the stairwell. You remember how it went?

It’s been a while. Since I found out. The feelings faded finally. But dreams release their pain on me.

It’s been a while. A while apart. Now I realize, I gave away my heart.

I stopped to look. I stayed to learn. And in the end, there’s nothing else to earn.

eventually now.

eventually if.

dandelion corner?

Posted on

lost keys

on the edge of the world
stand alone at the waves
in the back of your mind
where you going to be saved?

we are stealing from the future
We are dreaming hollow rhyme
we have borrowed many fortunes
we have followed broken time.

have you seen where we are living
rising up above the earth?
have you seen us out forgiving
for all that we are worth?

on the edge of the world,
stand alone and stop to think.
let the arrows fall around you,
and distractions drop and sink.

until everything is clearer,
and every word distinct.
we are growing ever nearer,
to being fully interlinked.

I came up with a melody for this first, tis more world music than folk, my first foray, hurray!

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Stolen March

I don’t know the when and where
I’ll find you then and meet you there
In the end it’s all the same
Stolen march and borrowed fame.

I folded it and passed it on,
A paper declaration of, my doubt
Take a chance and stick to it,
you never know where you might get, or not.

I say who,
What about you, now?
They say who,
What about you, now?

Skip the intro, skip the start,
Lets cut right to the stony heart,
Melt the steel and crush the rock,
Your petal’s edge is sharp enough

My confidence is compromised,
My faith in life is undermined, again.
But when you’re in my line of sight,
My heavy feet become so light, amen.

They go who,
is coming through now?
I know you,
And everything you do now.

If it’s so hard then why not stop?
Keep pushing on with all you’ve got,
Someday soon you’ll reach the edge,
I’ll meet you there out on the ledge.

Feelings come and feelings go,
The fastest words will sink so slow.
You’re in my arms and in my mind,
You’re where I can’t begin to find…

You say who
Who you want to be now?
they say who
who the hell are we?

*************

One of these days
One of these pills
A passing phase
Between the fills.

One of these days
On one of these hills
The fading rays
Of goodnight’s chills.

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(In) Memory of a Goldfish

have to lose to want to get
space travel for dummies
space travel for life

the ether in my brain is candy floss
the crystals in my soul are stolen
you either know or not and I’m lost
the jump-starts of the heart at cost

now it made sense for a moment
suspended between infinities
dangled from a stare
behind cages of divinities

get up, get on, and get out of here,
your door opens on to the silent street
the mesh connects it to your feet
listen before you call
Go figure, go fall

In the memory of a Goldfish,
I am swimming away and gone.
In the memory of a goldfish,
None of us have long.

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bump

Closer closer till you burn,
Now there’s no room left to turn…
All or nothing, in or out,
We have no time to throw about.

I guess I’ve been a stupid guy,
To stop and wait and not to try.
I know sometimes it makes me sigh,
As life and fate go tumbling by.

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about face

Find yourself in the unfamiliar
the foreign,
the other…
Find what, exactly?

Bloody changes changing changed
Welcome welcome sit and beat and rearrange
Can’t help myself the way it goes
Give it up until it shows

Easy in and never out,
That’s they way you get about
Why am I wired to wear this way,
The bitter breaks that stop to stay?

Closer the composite,
That void return type,
Scramble to the surface and,
dragged,
back down,
About as inventive as the taste in your throat,
Vague inclination of many many things,
That’s the anxiety arriving,
rising high and riding by and lapping at your edges.

Did I see another climber,
And what does it count?
What does it say about me, about me?
Turn about face and leave this place.
For Forever.
I will never ever see you again forever?
Another throwaway discarded,
Meanings intended and applied,
Inspiration burrowed inside…
A placeholder for love,
A proxy for reality

But the questions are not pursued,
There is only the sun, and the light,
And the surfaces to soak it or reflect it, share it.

I can say that I was there, but was I really?
Do we ever get beyond the moment, and the way the light is changing as the day goes by?
Do we ever, am I severed?

Several severed efforts,
In a bid to make sense,
I forced my soul to dispense
with itself…

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last minute checks

[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/lastMinuteChecks.mp3|titles=Last Minute Checks]You say that
you’re climbing
Always inspiring, without a clue
You say you’re still growing
Only unfolding, now look at you

When you’re positively,
Floating on empty, what can you do?
You’re totally open,
Made to be broken, then pull on through?

Now it’s time to go,
get caught up in the flow,
another place to be
For every minute lost,
there’s a wishing penny tossed,
into a wishing sea.

My mind always wanders,
Gets carried out onwards, Gets pulled away
I’m scratching the surface,
And feeding the furnace, to harden my clay

We’re hopelessly drawn to,
The light we were born to, hit headfirst
We’re fruitlessly fighting,
The changes conspiring, ready to burst.

Now it’s time to go,
get caught up in the flow,
another place to be
For every minute lost,
there’s a wishing penny tossed,
into a wishing sea

And still it’s surprising
The future is rising, out of the air
But we are just tourists,
We hurry right through it, too quick to care.

You say you’re deciding,
When you’re confiding, close as you dare.
I know we’re still changing,
But waiting is aging, I’ll see you there.

Now it’s time to go,
get caught up in the flow,
another place to be
For every minute lost,
there’s a wishing penny tossed,
into a wishing sea.

Right about now
You’re right about how
A better place to be…
For every minute lost,
there’s another penny tossed,
into a wishing sea.

***********
[capo 5th]

chords
C B? G F#?
0 0 3 0
1 3 0 0
0 0 0 2
2 0 0 0
3 2 2 0
x x 3 2

chorus
C D? F? G
0 0 0 3
1 3 7 0
0 0 0 0
2 4 5 0
3 5 7 2
x x 0 3

lots of pinky notes, hammer on/pull offs, alternating between strum and picking

Posted on

flup

Here, now, whatever.
Hard to say if it’s for today or for forever,
What would we know either way?
some day, another,
some day, brother.

Fear now,
Strips and strands.
Plays on his words,
Forgets his hands.

He’s a failure too,
Can’t keep his cool.
Endgame gives no answers,
Flow of the fool.

Break in the stop in the stop in the break in the
hard angles leaning over shoulders take or make.
Empty insults, Ignorant thrills, sudden spills,
Faith in the world, faith in the hills.

Faith in the world, sister.
Faith in the feeling of things.
Faith in your hate, mister?
Faith in the future it brings?

Here, now, remembered, discovered.
Suspended innards dismembered recovered,
Time to go,
Folded inwards, bent towards.

Warm coccoon,
Feathered nest.
Strong foundations,
Forget the rest.

Say it in riddles,
Say it in rhyme,
Meaningless whistles,
Literary crime.

Painting by numbers,
Painting by night.
Raggedy wonders,
Facing the light…

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Saturated

[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Saturated.mp3|titles=Saturated]

Baby it’s too hard to say it, but too late to stop,
In a moment it’s all gone for good.
And I can’t help but feeling, that this is the top.
We’ve taken as much as we could.

Now the motion explodes, we are forced to forge on,
Moved to let go and make tracks.
In the pitch of the night, in the grip of what’s gone,
You’re hands are tracing right back.

*************************
And I can feel the hail, when it beats on my head,
Feel the wind tear at my skin.
But I don’t really care if I’m saturated,
These storms come from within.
*************************
Only so much to hold us back from the brink,
And keep us from blowing apart.
Just a few minutes more, relax now don’t think-
Take thoughtlessness down to an art.

So you’re leaving tomorrow, all packed to depart.
May your feet always land soft and sure.
I’m so tired of false starts, of cold beats in warm hearts,
Something old, borrowed, and blue.

*************************
I can hear the hail, when it beats on my skin,
Feel the wind tear through my head.
But I don’t really care, if I’m saturated,
These storms all come from within.

I can hear the rain, droplets of lead,
And there’s nowhere for me to hide.
But I don’t really care, if I’m saturated,
All these storms come from inside.
*************************
verse
Am C G A7
Am C G or E7

chorus
C |A7| C |G |C |A7 |E7
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0
5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0
5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1
5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
x | x | x | 3 | x | 0 | 0

Posted on

cast/go

Cast it back,
Cast it out,
Freckled innocence,
Blooming doubt…

*********************************
The present is the presence of past.
Wrap and preserve it since nothing will last?

********************************

If daily we have the same lessons,
And become as the message itself
Absorb and engage all the pith of the page,
And freely grow fat from our wealth.

Then surely there is a real balance,
And surely a place there to rest,
Where distant loud rumbles are voices that grumble,
Where unity comes from the test.

But what is this stress that still rises,
From the base to the edges of things?
And agitates toes and our eyelids that close,
With a drum beat that constantly rings.

Can we then go and hide in our habits,
And forget how the ardent hope stings?
Or mumble some mumblings to blunt it’s mute humming,
And fumble the freedom that sings?

I was once off away in the ether,
But now tied to a solid real post,
Where I can’t quite see how I might see her and be,
Left idly behind as a ghost.

And time is as usual skipping,
As fast as we try to be born,
Just lounging around where the air meets the ground,
And the dead of the night meets the morn.

And you know all too well of the fleeting,
The instants that counted in vain,
Are grasped and held tight for a short evening flight,
Where nothing is ever the same.

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Sky Blue

Work to rule,
A simple fool.
Something crude-
Far too rude.

Sky blue,
Future tell.
Sky blue,
Hope you are well.

Time strapped,
Brain mapped.
Predicted states,
Expensive rates.

Sky blue,
What can I say?
Sky blue,
Some other way

People appear,
People fade.
Shifting gear,
Nothing stays.

Sky blue,
Whatever I do.
Sky blue,
Who really knew?

Chances lost,
Beats drop.
Moments last,
Speeding stop.

Sun shines
In my mind
New life,
Hard to find.

Sky blue,
What will I do?
Sky blue
And what about you?

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plensium

still, others othered often bothered…

the key to inner pieces
the one who follows to pick them up
same thoughts in different brains, different times
change afoot and up to no good

splices in all sizes
torn apart asunder
excuses for all causes
ripped away to wonder

what excuse has the universe,
to be as it as and not other?

oh crap, stilted and sinking, slipping indistinctly

  • the most cutting of fleetings

yet each last second in comfort more precious still till
SNAP!
the end of the line has finally materialised

shifting, value-uncentred, the spread of technology,

out, burn, in, burn,

twisted wrangling indifferent spindled,
rolled in boxes and marched to the edges

oh bollox oh bollox oh

heart beset on all sides by the humdrum of heavy beats

restart, reset, repeat

what the heck,

and what the heck the last time, and the time before that… the same heck to feck

validation not included

the flapping crow is swallowed by the embrace of waiting outstretched tree limbs

the price of the penalty pursued passed by

the price of desertion left alone left idle

who, who and why,

spit a hard spit and sell off your kit.

nothings added up, added up, time to leave and get to bed and fail again tomorrow.

that burning removed, improved, shot down and

and

and (soak it up till sagging burst)

psssh! Toss words away,
no value left to give

I am reborn, again, and am stupid
I will have to relearn the other kind of stupidity
The less naive and more designed
Habit inhibit and hide

enough of this raggedy fatalism!
Kerboom!! (restart, reset, repeat)

Posted on

Umpilton

Dredge…
Shred first, taste later
The hard-won destruction fakes its toll

Ledge…
Bled first, healthy again,
The softer climates rust the weakly postured

The milk slips over the edge of the bowl

Bits and bobs sieze up and collapse
Litter the verges and byroads
Where they fall like dew,
or like rain,
or like driven snow,
relaxed in the control of
murderous gravity.

But no depravity…
The scale from sensible to serious
Well traversed by guilty soles
Paths worn into quiet patterns
That tell their own stories

Furious…
Perhaps a little anger goes a long way,
Shockwaves radiating at the speed of speech
Passion’s grip a point of no return
Poisoned righteousness burning brightly on.

Then relaxed…
The tide draws its breath
Shores sigh and relax
Cruel hammering suspended, paused
Soft water investigates the flaws

The bowl falls from the table,
A hundred fragments of ceramic and cereal,
Spread out on the tiles,
In random broken piles.

I will brush and mop,
The random collection of abstract shapes,
Entropy shouldering into the kitchen unwelcome
From their chaos find the order of a rubbish bin,
the shattering of an illusion of calm
hurt words of an injured psyche startled
stabbing aimlessly outwards
I will brush and mop and find a new bowl

Posted on

the last post

from one to one
choosing

to be self-defined
musing

held in some regard
repeating

judged to have erred
misleadingmay

Bollox to the stream of consciousness
It is but a passing trend
Like all things to all people
The idea of a solid mass
The idea of first and last!

Grumbling we go, into the arbitrary distance,
Dimensions decided beforehand
Your edges and my centre
A clasped ornament dearly held,
And a thermos flask sending steaming tea into the gullet
All specifics are sentimental!

Do you choose now,
To abide by the rules
Whatever they are?

Can I redefine the game so that it cannot be lost?

Will the faith leap to me,
Or am I forever bound to this wheeling limbo,
this crippling independence,
this crushing freedom,
caught in the act of decision
held cannot and never released.

The last post…

These winds could be blowing
from anywhere to anywhere
But in this cold house
they just turn pages of unread books
and whip the curtains from their hooks.
They could be whirling about your home,
Soothing reminder of the cosiness of safety
the blowing whisper of violent nature

I will publish this mess!
Complete with mistakes and unedited,
It is the last post, there is no time for changes!
But noone will read it, more to the point
It is already swallowed by the hollow vacumn of everything
How can a candle be seen in a forest flame?

Light on light
Dark on dark
follow the tune
from the spark

Tomorrow we will all start again,
counting up or counting down
desparing at the growing distances
and the savage decay of what we love

there are lessons in the future
lessons of the past
the wind outside is of course the present,
but no gift to the roving eye
for only in the third party frozen nothing of objective sight
is anything anything

all is flux
but to whom or or Whom?
time and consciousness chime
art and beuracray at war
the pastic wrapping must come of the weapons
and we must retreat into the woods
and the wind
always the wind
to beat about the rambings
and complain that nothing is being said,
nothing is being said again and as usual
while the smirkers that don’t know the difference
are content to be just as wise and ignorant
beatiful and ugly

I cannot control that damned flow
You may have noticed!
Can you focus your very being
to be
to go
Do you exist?
Do you ask?

WooHoo! Number fifty two,
I made it for you!
Maybe fifty three,
Will be made for me!

Posted on

Notes from Underground

Demo: [audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/notesFromUnderground.mp3|titles=Notes From the Underground]

You been running away, calling out names
And it’s a lot on your plate, give it away
ohh, down, to the underground
ohh down, away from the crowd

Too long hanging around, and you know you’re not moving
It’s the same old story that you’re really improving
ohh, down, picking up purpose
all round, riches are worthless

You’ve been Lying awake and waiting for someone
but your patience is shot, you chase away what comes
And I don’t know how you can wait for your life
No I don’t know how you can wait on your love
I don’t know how you can wait for the man above
I don’t know how you can wait all your life

When the weather is wintery
But your clothes are not worn
You can afford to go spend
But you just cannot own
And your charity unchallenged
You are drifting away
And hopelessly groping see
It fade as you start to say

You been playing your cards, and coming up trumps
But they’re just playing along, to make themselves feel good
As they go down, and follow the sound
ohh go, no use sticking around

down here
In the pits of your mind
down here
Don’t know what you might find

le chords: Em C G D

Posted on

I’m not there

[audio:http://donalkelly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Broodeye.mp3|titles=I’m Not There]

you’ve come this far doing what you can
don’t forget to turn the lights off when you leave
your master plan is an also-ran
and you know just about as much as you are led to believe

what is it that drives you on and drives you out of sight?
How can I get to where I go without you as my light?

I’m not there, I’m not wrong
I’m not there, I’m not gone

You made your way with little fuss and little was made of you
All those turning points and crossroads fade
Decisions melt and dissapear, no matter what you thought knew
And everything you ever owned has strayed

So tell me now what drives you on and drives you out of sight?
How can I get to where I’m going without you as my guide?

I’m not there, I’m not wrong
I’m not there, I’m not gone

Just let me know what drives you on and drives me out of my mind?
How can I get to where I need to be without you by my side?

I’m not there, far too long
I’m not there, don’t belong

Posted on

fire below zero

Stars beyond the street lights
Ice settled on the road
December silently cold
Tell tale signs of a heart on fire

Will it keep me warm on the way home?
Make up for lost jackets and hours?
Or will it only fall into emotional fission
Tear apart the meaning of things

Mindful as ever,
Tripping over looping thoughtstreams
But clear as that chilled air,
The closeness and the moment foster longing there

How the restraint is tested
Winter buds hiding from the frost
But aching to burst forth in midnight bloom
Only to taste sharp rejection’s cruellest cost

Here comes the snow
To swallow the sleeping world
Catching fools like me off guard
Throwing life anon in eager earnest agony

It is a strange blaze that lights the soul
Or whatever word fits the internals
The mute unfolding of dna transcended
Rickety peace and faithless purpose

And what a strange thing I am
Balanced carefully on a knife edge of immature torment
Calling up storms of hail and sleet to better express my meaning
While leaning back to look for your attention

And there to the crux
Those restless feet that make me forget every other dancer
And for a while I forget too the numbers game and the cards dealt
And pure simple desire steals air to make flame

In the crooked circles I weave
Helpless and forgetfull
Mortal and selfish
what would would not otherwise exist

With every falling flake
Complexity returns to sweep out the dreams
The waking world learns the difficulties of shoveling snow
Frostbitten romantics snake into offices to serve shy distracted labour

Clueless and unbidden
Every time I get lost I find the same old landmarks
Early explanitory habits
But no frame of reference to complete the surface of things

Maybe I will try again,
To get a spark from old broken matches
And burn bright the cold kindling
But who knows what will be set ablaze?

So I see my lonesome brethern
And they chant far better lines
More skilled at this sui-surgery
And measured in their rhyme

And I see the mood is fading
Music shifting key
But the iced cars may not start this morning
We will have to wait and see

Posted on

On the Up and Up

wait,
one more time again
ever expanding speeches
trading off the win
to burn away the leeches

you
will never pass this way
not your kind of place
Though I can live with that
I’d much prefer to stay

will,
you float above these things?
no fading in these dreams
washed away in bits
returning old receipts

feel,
unsettled strangeness soon,
complete will never do,
washed away in chunks
when chasing winds that blew

hope,
will echo and extend
arc across the dawn
spill down here again
wander into town

soon,
switch back to losing track
of what it is we’re at
changes building back
ambition falling flat