1. |
Theresa
02:06
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i am a believer in unmade beds
i will not pretend i am unwell read
the ones i have loved neither left nor dead
live on in the madness around my bed
please don’t mind me speaking so softly
it’s not often friends come to visit me
the air in the room perforates with ease
but these walls are shelves lined with enemies
can boredom mean more than poems can
when every breath tries to understand
hush throttles my fear with your steady hand
thus i will not question your smirking plans
thoughts are products of contentment
that’s why i have no thoughts this moment
if i’ve made you smile with your clear consent
you’ve let fall the anchor of your intent
i am truly as i pretend to be
but you’ve shown more interest than honesty
you’ve learned it’s easy to believe things
you never considered questioning
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2. |
Finer Points
02:02
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as nature’s all around
the city dream
floods me like a shadow in a valley
crackling underfoot
glass like snow
but the tomcats’ still cry is always friendly
the sky is cloudless with breath and crawls like a cricket
the song will keep its own watch
some prefer the view
from up real high
like a balcony or a rooftop or a tree
i’ve run in circles all day here
but look
no one leaves unless you meet them in the street
the fear of safety in groups is what keeps us violent
the shops retreat from the street with their floor-length glass skirts
the treasure glows from the ground to pique my attention
but now who’s been here before?
it may be i am surfing corners turning to get in the way
to watch shadows in the street move back and forth in perfect time
but i’d rather walk beneath a brick umbrella than a pane of glass
i’ll amble down the underground and watch the block fade as i pass
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3. |
I Can Tell
02:46
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“i can tell you’ve been sleeping enough”
you say in your coffee-sour tongue
you look at me laughing
“i can tell you’ve been breathing enough
cause not that you do think it’s funny
but look at you laughing”
if i’m aware of its tendency to depend
why did i come here to make friends?
if you’re still talking to me don’t walk away
i can tell the best parts of yourself
are the parts that you never had to fight for
and it burns you up
everything that you’ve built is a joke
but everything that you are is a miracle
don’t take it personal
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4. |
Mercy
03:30
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in plaintive sighs you sang to me
your shape and your dimensions
you left yourself printed in air
as clear as a reflection
you walk between two walls made of
slowly unfreezing water
you stood atop my molten feet
and sang away the hours
show me the mountain to which i’ll retreat
i beseech you, have mercy on me
i have a sense you’re not the rule
nor simply the exception
i’ll never fall asleep again
but under your direction
your eyes are like fermented peach
their gentle apprehension
quiet as ripples on a lake
i’ll trust in your intentions
you don’t understand, it isn’t up to me
you have deprived me of any agency
show me the mountain to which i’ll retreat
i beseech you, have mercy on me
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5. |
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i’m innocent but not unfamiliar
gone parallel to south for the winter
i had dreamed of darkness in springtime
now my only light is the cloudshine
if anyone comes art’s length or closer
can only try to smile as if sober
i can feel the weight of their jokes but
i am not the company seeker
don’t have the throat to explore
if i was cold i’d burn all my paper
if i was flat i’d crinkle and wake her
rip the wire cage from the window
hang it in my room like a photo
i’m losing track of all of our dishware
washing a fork to comb an angel’s hair
to tell the truth i’ve never been so scared
you know what they say fail to prepare
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6. |
Lisette
02:16
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i would give you anything if it meant you would
kiss me on my unshaven face
fingertips are all i’m not afraid to show you
i need you to find them a place
if you ever felt like i did
when your right cheek met my shoulder
am i the one who’s wasting time here
oh my lisette
you are my most indolent lioness
you can play without lifting your chin
you are my deer fallow in my headlights’ path
i’ll slow down as fast as i can
if you ever felt like i did
when your right cheek met my shoulder
am i the one who’s wasting time here
oh my lisette
i would give you anything if it meant you would
kiss me on my unshaven face
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7. |
Papier Mâché
02:43
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the daily soliloquy’s cracking the whip at me
braced for emergency, cursed with the urgency
games are sustaining me awfully precariously
the lesson’s that victory’s never truly complete
you’ve scrawled in the paper of your feeble hands
a nightmare of rain to make your inky blood run
you’re useless to hold her in between your sides
your two brains are gnashing and they’ll tear you apart
you swallowed your eyes after you promised me
that once you stopped seeing it you could start listening
and trace out my shadow with a silver tine
i am not afraid of papier-mache
i’m no motorcade i’ll lead you astray
my face is a shade of empty ashtrays
so what do you say? or are you afraid of rain?
the light of a memory’s frightened the bats away
a window and not a screen second floor of our place
i am the only one doesn’t know how to smile
but i’ve been around since then
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8. |
Pray For Lizzie
03:34
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i’ve made it very clear
i’m where i wanna be
elizabeth my dear
i still feel you when i’m asleep
you are the pressure in my chest
you are the stinging in my eye
you are the warmth in my head
i’ve got a funny way of being lied to
i’ve got a funny way of being lied to
i think that it’s okay for me to like you
i’ve made it very clear
oh come now don’t be sad
elizabeth my dear
although i move in circles
i always fall behind
my knees are weak and i hate the cold
and so the circles get smaller and smaller
i’ve got a funny way of being lied to
i’ve got a funny way of being lied to
i wish it was okay for me to like you
i’ve got a funny way of being lied to (repeat)
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9. |
Rain
02:47
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i’m a schoolkid singing stock phrases in giggles
and i feel safe and warm and wet like summer rain
am i blessed by a life lived above ground?
as dewy streetlamps breathe the air into my city
listening to the rain, know what i noticed?
the sound against the street’s from higher than the sky
and makes the ground look wet and unfriendly
even when it’s dry
i’m a loser cause i wanna laugh
you’re a failure cause you wanna run
we’re both failures forever
collecting freckles from the morning sun
the street sign’s fallen now and reaching heavenward
from the sidewalk bouncing like a magnet
do you know where you are?
this lamp is old and cycling hard
i picture teardrops crawling cross a frame of frosty glass
step into that puddle watch it lift my face up
a different kind of surface tension
up in the sky
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10. |
The I Will Choose
02:55
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the i will choose who’s
implicated in my happiness
hear there the bells’ bloom
frozen echoes of a vacant nest
and when she seems sure
she’s a pillow in a prickly place
she sleeps on the floor
where the flat and straight recalibrate
i miss my old room
when i wake up late and miss the sun
my pallid cheeks prove
what is obvious to everyone
irregular food
is how i consolidate control
ignoring the truth
is the cushion of my vitriol
at twenty three feet above the ground
how can i dance without looking down?
if i’m at home in your skinny town
how can i dance without looking down?
the wine in our eyes
describes silhouettes of a son
look at me real close
i’m trying to give you a choice
see now, you see how
you got the sweetness in your voice
see now, you see how
you got yourself a hell of a voice
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BOY FRIENDS Montreal, Québec
formerly THE THIS MANY BOYFRIENDS CLUB
you can find our old music at thismanyboyfriendsclub.bandcamp.com
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