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Something Makes Us Move

by Joel P West

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1.
There’s fog on the water, it is a veil to mask the bride For the restless sky that blackens by night Monterey waits there, hiding behind a winding road As I grip the wheel so I don’t lose control If my words were colored I’d want them to be read But my green eyes copy them in black and white so I hide them If my thoughts had words I’d want them to be said But I can’t shy away from the perfect gray that is my mind The highway is peaceful, it sounds like a photograph of time Selected scenes from my sprinting mind The roar of the water speaks of a conflict and deceit And the tossing waves that wont allow me sleep If my words were colored I’d want them to be read But my green eyes copy them in black and white so I hide them If my thoughts had letters I’d want them to be said But I can’t shy away from the perfect gray that is my mind Hold me together, hold me closer than I ever knew Pull me together, I’m much closer to believing you If Steinbeck were guiding, he would have pointed to the north So I search this West to find the Inscore Words are the way now, but I wanted nothing of the sort As I sat in silence on a Prescott porch
2.
At the rise of sun a meal is made That it would sustain bodies during days But the bodies take the meal with haste Tongues would like to taste, sweet teeth cannot wait So we stare out at winter cold Through a window If my son could shut his weary eyes Surely I would smile on my sleeping child The jealous bridesmaids standing in a line Could not bear to smile on the beautiful bride So we stare out at winter skies But the snow has deceived our eyes For opposite sides are blind There’s stinging in all the white Fear is the tie that binds A chasing to all these lies I fall for it every time Please let me fall asleep I’m tired of worrying About what we could have been I’ll be the western sky And you be the sea and we We’ll let our blues collide I am the western sky And you are the sea And we have drawn a line
3.
I have cleared a space to put my summerfeet But some seasons keep lingering So run from the heat, but I find dry defeat I get desperate for an autumn breeze Or a jacket and some fallen leaves Our homes will hold us, we miss what’s within us It’s weird to see the mountain peaks From the bench that sits on willow street With the buildings beneath, and at night I can see The blinking of a distant red From the sign that lights the el cortez The city’s my song, sleeping with the lights on Try to find a change in time These summer poems are written in the breeze I admit it is clear that I have lost control I believe that change would fill a hole As if color in leaves is where I could find peace I was desperate to pour out my dreams In her kitchen sink on Halloween But we stand in bare feet trying to fight the heat Try to find a change in time These autumn poems are written in the leaves Since the night that I slept on London time All my dreams have been in black and white And my eyes have turned grey, and they shut when I say There are mothers next to empty seats There are sisters crying in their sleep we’ve all been wondering where the ground beneath us went to find a change in time These winter poems are written on the sea
4.
We will visit landmarks for the first time and compare them to a postcard that we’ve all seen We remember We will follow leaders as if our lives were a template drawn by people that we’ve all seen We remember We all head west Cause we were told the west had more daylight left We will visit landmarks and compare them to a postcard and we’ll say wait now, that is not how We remember
5.
Wake me when the sun is not a secret And all of its reflections speak in color Collapse the letters, perhaps they’re better unknown Convenience via industry is deceiving We’re traveling far in seconds, but covering cars complexion Protecting our investments The luxury of salary is rewarding Improving conditions, improving efficience But all the corresponding course of reaction And equal distraction is a burden It’s a burden We are blessed, we are cursed in our abundance We are pressed to have worth in terms of tangibility We are blessed to be settled without worry We are cursed to forget we are in need We are blessed, we are blessed upon our knees The market will fluctuate with hopes to manipulate our need The patterns of the sun remain concrete Beauty is simple but we, we find favor in a mess of synthetics We are hungry Beauty is simple but we, we find favor in a mess of synthetics We are worried I heard that the economy is receding The sun still warms my skin
6.
And when it comes it comes at once And my eyes will not stay shut For fear that I have never loved In my steady lack of surprise and wide eyes For admirers and allies Ocean sky and iris Brilliantly blinding, desperate and binding And when I drive I fight a thought That I should never stop For open road will always be The home where I am Free from need of wide eyes For admirers and allies Ocean sky and iris Brilliantly blinding, desperate and binding I am but a telegraph Dot dash dot dash I cannot accent my syllables Or smile with my eyes I am but a photograph Click flash click flash I cannot talk with my hands Or speak free for the life of me And on a lonely night I’ll find The reason I’m outside Is not that I’ve never been loved But that I’m terrified of opening my shy eyes For admirers and allies Ocean sky and blue eyes I’m finally finding they’re beautifully binding
7.
The thunder stirred us from our beds at midnight We ran with red eyes into the blue light We scrambled through the mess of falling water In soaking clothes we drove to watch the harbor White blue light it flashed, it shook, it flickered And turned the city into burning pictures The children pulled their covers to their noses Morning workers groaned with their eyes open We chased the drifting flashes toward the ocean And climbed on top of Sarah’s roof to watch them We could not have kept ourselves that evening From following what we can’t help believing Darkness blinds us Light informs us Sound alarms us Change excites us Fear restricts us Time defines us Desire drives us Something makes us move We did not decide to open sleepy eyes The thunder shook our bones And pulled us from our homes

credits

released April 11, 2007

Percussion by Tim Denny on 2 & 6, Trevor Spangle on 4 & 7, and Kelsey Smith on 5
Violin by Sam Shrader
Female Vocals by Mackenzie West

Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Kelsey Smith and Tim Denny at Downbeat Sounds / Vancouver, WA

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Joel P West San Diego, California

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