Forget About

You made me forget about
Have, want, exert
And all of a sudden, I feel proud
Of being, without saying a word

You made me forget about
Past and pain
Time, you washed out
Like a soft, sudden, summer rain

You do me good
You do me so good
You made me forget about

You made me forget about
Have, want, and exert
And off a sudden, I found out
Oh it's beautiful the way you wear your shirt
You do me good, you made me forget about

Sibylle Baier

Divers

The diver is my love
And I am his, if I am not deceived
Who takes one breathe above, for every hour below the sea
Who gave me a jewel worth twice this woman's life
But would cost her less than laying at low tide
To see her true love phosphoresce

And in an infinite regress
Tell me, why is the pain of birth
Lighter borne than the pain of death?
I ain't saying that I loved you first,
but I loved you best

I know we must abide
Each by the rules that bind us here
The divers, and the sailors, and the women in the piece
But how do you choose your form?
How do you choose your name? How do you choose your life?
How do you choose the time you must exhale
and kick, and rise?

And in an infinite capsize
Like a bull tearing down the coast,
Double hull bearing double masts
I don't know if you loved me most
but you love me last.

Recall the word you gave
To count your way across the depths of this arid world,
Where you would yoke the waves and lay in bed of shining pearls
I dream it every night
The ringing of the pail
The motes of sand dislodged
The shucking, quick and bright
The twinned and cast-off shells reveal a single heart of white

And in an infinite backslide
Ancient border, sink past the West
Like a sword at the bearer's fall
I can't claim that I knew you best
but did you know me at all?

A woman is alive, a woman is alive
You do not take her for a sign in nacre on a stone,
Alone, unaffected and fine
And never will I wed
I'll hunt the pearl of death to the bottom of my life
And ever hold my breath till I may be the diver's wife

See how the infinite divides
And the divers are not to blame
For the rift, spanning distant shores
You don't know my name
but I know yours

Joanna Newsom

Watching the Wheels

People say I'm crazy, doing what I'm doing
Well, they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm okay, well, they look at me kinda strange
"Surely, you're not happy now, you no longer play the game"

People say I'm lazy, dreaming my life away
Well, they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
"Don't you miss the big time, boy. You're no longer on the ball"

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Ahhh, people ask me questions, lost in confusion
Well, I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well, they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry, I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

John Lennon

Sestina

You
used
to
love
me
well.

Well,
you—
me—
used
love
to...

to...
well...
love.
You
used
me.

Me,
too,
used...
well...
you.
Love,

love
me.
You,
too
well
used,

used
love
well.
Me,
too.
You!

You used
to love
me well.

Ciara Shuttleworth

Night Film

I stared at her. She was definitely not from New York. This one screamed Recent grad of Ohio State with a degree in the dramatic arts. Something told me she'd probably played a Pink Lady in some abysmal production of Grease and when someone asked her who she was, she said I'm an actor in the same breathy voice I'd seen people in AA announce I'm an alcoholic. Girls like her moved here by the truckload, hoping to be discovered and to meet Mr. Big but too often ended up in bars in Murray Hill wearing black dresses from Banana Republic, Band-Aids over the blisters on their heels. They'd get their I'll Take Manhattan taken off them soon enough. To live in this city for any extended period of time required masochism, moral flexibility, skin like an alligator's, and mad jack-in-the-box resilience- none of which these faux-confident twenty-very-littles could even begin to wrap their heads around. Within five years she'd be running home to her parents, a boyfriend named Wayne, and a job at her old high school, teaching movement.

Marisha Pessl

Death with Dignity

Spirit of my silence I can hear you
but I'm afraid to be near you
And I don't know where to begin

Somewhere in the desert there's a forest
and an acre before us
But I don't know where to begin
Again I lost my strength completely
or be near me tired old mare
With the wind in your hair

Amethyst and flowers on the table
is it real or a fable?
Well I suppose a friend is a friend
And we all know how this will end

Chimney swift that finds me be my keeper
silhouette on the seater
What is that song you sing for the dead?
I see the signal searchlight strike me
in the window of my room
Well I got nothing to prove

I forgive you mother I can hear you
and I long to be near you
But every road leads to an end
Your aberration passes through me
in the willows and five red hens
You'll never see us again

Sufjan Stevens

The Liars' Club

"That world was long gone before my birth, but I remember it."

Mary Karr