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Straight Lines

by Fair-Weather Friend

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1.
Weather 04:36
Weather Well, the tears carved through your face just like the Colorado River through the Arizona desert, and you thought things couldn't get bigger. Well, they did. So you say: How will this affect me later? Will it come in dreams or weather? Or knots or heaps or poetry? Or books you read? Or will you just forget? About it all About it all Well, these days I don't know what's keeping me safe from the city swallowing whole parts or just crumbs of myself. Tell me, is there a way to get out now? And I’ll say: How will this affect me later? Will it come in dreams or weather? Or knots or heaps or poetry? Or books I read? Or will I just forget? About it all About it all Well, I was over the weather this storm can’t forever go on in this place. But rain stays together and erodes forever new canyons of my aging face. Well, I was not quite sure whether a capital letter began this whole poem, and I’ve lost the tether that kept this together. Now I just want to go
2.
Towel Dried 03:51
Towel Dried I was baptized in a bathtub, towel dried under the sun. Five hundred threads I counted before it came undone. Over time and underwhelmed, the heavy gaze I’d learned watched me from afar was lost in fog or something worse. To break a piece of Tourmaline To find out what this all could mean One slender piece, a colored prism Within three points there's a prison A slender piece, a colored prism One day I’ll find some opal cut in half, exposed. Expressing every color; not an answer, good to know. The veins of color thin, but playful, lead me to a place of wavelengths that cannot pass through this big wide open space. To break a piece of Tourmaline To find out what this all could mean One slender piece, a colored prism Within three points there's a prison A slender piece, a colored prism Well I would be a liar if I ever heard myself say, "I knew that it would all turn out, it would turn out this way!" So I might dig it up. Dig dig dig dig dig it up today. Then flash a smile with two handfuls of soil: “It means!” My birthmark is an hourglass and spills upon my knee. Irregular and anywhere, but here attached to me. The grains of sand, deliberate, fall into their place, but leave the other half alone, a big wide open space.
3.
Collimated Light The distance in a single point is the same between two states. Deep in thought or two pressed lips, so much in little space. Now another line break breaks, or a negative’s exposed. Not a picture of Berlin or a picture of a home. I thought it was collimated. Come to find I’ve been mistaken all along. As if by aperture, my sense of you diverge diverge. The photo’s now clear and intact. Inaction jump-starts quick diffraction. Now you’re just a good idea I had, I had, I had. The image I have lingers still, but doesn’t have a frame. Somewhere in the past tense buried, and tucked within a phrase. I thought it was collimated. Come to find I’ve been mistaken all along. As if by aperture, my sense of you diverge diverge. The photo’s now clear and intact. Inaction jump-starts quick diffraction. Now you’re just a good idea I had, I had, I had. A familiarity develops oh so perfectly. Uncared for comfortably isn’t it entirely. A familiarity develops oh so perfectly, and it isn’t entirely.
4.
A Theory 04:22
A Theory Two knots - symmetrical But look - it's a trefoil Can't cut - this thing apart Can't pull - these strings One knot - tied years ago Why not - oh it's chiral Don't look - it's different Than what - you thought And you would know me better, as threads sewn, cut, and tied. Now ripped just like the tether, reused, or scrapped, or dyed. I learned - what's trivial It means - it's possible Untie - a knot that's been Tied tight - by someone else And you'll- forget about it And I'll - forget about it Not yet - forget about it I can't - forget And you would know me better, as threads sewn, cut, and tied. Now ripped just like the tether, reused, or scrapped, or dyed. All of my trigonometry couldn't measure complexity or face reflections. The rest just doesn’t get mentioned. Didn’t match your geometry Or your view of this history. Forget reflection. The past doesn’t get (mentioned). And you'll- forget about it And I'll - forget about it Not yet - forget about it I can't - forget
5.
Water on Mars (free) 05:12
Water on Mars (I am) staring at Lake Michigan, and drawn to the horizon. It connects sky to lake to land like some great hyphenation. So blurry, hazy, undefined, someone colored outside the lines. It’s not a smudge, oh certainly, but some great possibility. Too planned, too perfect to efface, the lake serenely as a page. A wave, a blink, a brief distraction interrupts. All the verbs don’t do enough to move things into place. Don’t look back. Can’t dwell on wasting a beautiful day. (I am) sitting on a bench alone in Iowa, and spacing off. Fall drops like heavy curtain. Summer packs up all its stuff. Just then my foot turned in the dirt, and in this moment I was sure the crunch of earth beneath me now explained everything I had found— discovery, a bit of reason, change of mind, a change of season— Evidence of life on Earth, I’m sure I’m sure! All the verbs don’t do enough to move things into place. Don’t look back. Can’t dwell on wasting a beautiful day. Straight lines Black ink All rocks Don’t sink Rest up Go out Sit back It’s raining here in Illinois. The wind pulls like a tether. Still not sure where I should go. Maybe I'll follow the weather.
6.
The City (free) 05:12
The City Sometimes the city obliterates. Sometimes my bedroom suffocates. Sometimes the coffee isn’t good. And other times it is. From the plane I saw an orange light, where I was born. Flashes now, like Venus, on my retina. An absence shouts, a presence speaks. I haven’t found a job in weeks. So I’ll just be here in this place. Don’t mind me. I let the dishes pile for days. Not because I didn’t want to clean. The bits of food along the porcelain were meteors falling from a grey sky. An absence shouts, a presence speaks. I haven’t found a job in weeks. So I’ll just be here in this place. Don’t mind me. Sometimes the rain drops from the sky and forms some crystal column spines. Sometimes the traffic growls and snores; I ignore it more and more. Sometimes we go through the emotions, sleep on dreams, and float on oceans. Sometimes a chorus in a forest chants and chants and chance and chants: A perfect tiger with perfect stripes! A perfect tiger with perfect stripes! A perfect tiger with perfect stripes! A perfect tiger with perfect stripes! " " "

credits

released January 21, 2014

Many many thanks/gracias/danke to Daniel, Dan, Abi, Becky, and Joel for their yelps on "The City."
&
A huge shout to Mike Solomon for the album art!

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Fair-Weather Friend Chicago, Illinois

A perfectly collimated beam with no divergence cannot be created due to diffraction, but light can be approximately collimated by a number of processes, for instance by means of a collimator. Collimated light is sometimes said to be focused at infinity. Fair-Weather Friend is Alex Strong. ... more

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