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Shoulder Seasons

by Joel P West

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1.
Doubt’s pullin’ me, pullin’ me The way the moon is pullin’ on the sea Too wide for these eyes to see I only know it by the shifting seams They break so fast And run right back To what they know Rain’s comin’ down, comin’ down On the windows that I’m staring out A fear in my core longs for more To be remembered or respected for And at times I’d take Any break Because a man alone is desperate to be great The white kettle sings out in heat To where you’re waiting in the tangled sheets There’s nowhere to be so we sleep And we steep and you press into me And I brood and curse My selfish words Because a man in love is desperate to be good
2.
Ocotillo 02:53
There’s color in the brush In Florida canyon flush with the gifts of spring Which means a year ago We slept out in a fold Of the Pinyon Peaks The desert rain will bring The ocotillo sleeves of green again But me I cannot wait I’ve only learned to take And I’m led by greed So I am never free I don’t know what taught my blood This vain entitlement While the cactus survives just by the dew And in truth I am mostly water too My head is full of dreams Where a tired beggar speaks In a calm farewell I know it’s only me But I listen carefully As I tell myself Son you’re young You’re a raw onion Spoiled rotten please Don’t lie to me He says it’s all in your hands And you have to hurt someone To understand That love is only grace You’ll know you’re wise when you awake with thanks Searching for her face
3.
Even these trees Are huddled tightly in the sharpness of the morning Wearing nothing but some rotten apples on their sun-starved arms Small underneath A wall of grey that hardly lets the daylight to me And no sound But my mouth So loud An early freeze Instills in me the wishful dreams of what else could be Because the vivid ghosts of once before come when our bellies growl But when I see The stubborn earth is far more gracious than it could be I breathe deep and howl If the cold air made our bodies shake How could we say the morning was a waste Sometimes the shoulder seasons fill us more than what we’re waiting for Cause without warning We’ll find the new spring We’ll point the car east In search of new things And in the soft heat We’ll find an oak tree You’ll find a soft spot And lay beside me And under young leaves glowing in the sun We will agree these moments are enough I'll admit that times are harder now But I swear I’ll never turn them down Like the seabird hovering in flight If I am sustained, then I am alive
4.
St. Helens 03:50
Silence came More suddenly than we’d expected after such a rain And broken only by our footsteps in the soggy day With hands drawn in By the lakeside walking slowly from his monument With the sky in street clothes passing us its sentiments Oh those moments passed Before we saw how long they’d draw us right back The claims we make When the mountain range is made and yet still being made And the color of the sky will never be the same Just look at me Choking up at just the smell of all these evergreens Though I’ve tried I cannot fight how much they mean to me So this mirror shows We’re made without a say in how the days pull
5.
On my shelf Your letter’s printed out on the back of something else From across the room I felt it’s bite It kept me up all night Wondering If time’s gonna be enough now to make everything right Or if we just can’t make up The space that waits between us Then the dawn arrived loud and hot Though the night had passed The pain had not Cass McCombs Plays again from speakers I plugged into my phone It hasn’t rung since I’ve been home and so The tension still hangs low Something broke Split apart by words never spoken all this time Silence isn’t nothing The air it still weighs something From the start I tried to find what’s right But the passing years have blurred the lines So there’s doubts about your role and mine Just another void to miss him by We are young But I'm learning we're not promised clean lines in years to come Only scars with softer skin to show We know that we don’t know And so my hope For both of us is only to gain with every day Grace for any difference And thanks for any closeness I know the colors all went out on you In that sterile hostile awful room And though always volatile and new I hope with all I have we’ll learn them soon

about

Recorded in Golden Hill, 11/11

Strings on We'll Learn Them Soon:
Violin: Kelly Bennett
Viola: Travis Maril
Cello: Erica Erenyi

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released November 24, 2011

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Joel P West San Diego, California

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