by Kent Aitken and David & Laurie Easterling © March 11, 2021 Charlottetown, Canada, and Oak Ridge, TN, USA

Mars was rising as the sun went down
I sat waiting waiting for the sound
Of your piano through the walls every night 
And I pick my guitar by candlelight 

At first I hated these thin apartment walls
And the noise echoing down the halls
Slamming doors, lovers’ quarrels, footsteps, and doorbell rings
at 8:08 sweet piano strings

Play me a song
And I’ll play along
All I want to do 
Is accompany you
Play me a song
And I’ll play along
All I want you to do 
Is play me another song

It gets me through my toughest times
When you stopped, mid-song, at 9:09
I was scared I’d never hear you again
A blue songbird with a broken wing 

Sun rises and sets but your silence remains
Toughest of times lead to darkest of days
Learned your songs, got them wrong, my old guitar, with worn-out strings
When I played at 8:08 I heard you sing

Play me a song
And I’ll sing along
All I want to do 
Is accompany you
Play me a song
And I’ll sing along
In time and in tune   

Play me another song

Play Me A Song (w/ David and Laurie Easterling) - Song a Week 2021, Week 10

Stephanie told me that all those tattoos 
on her ex-husband's face and his neck were to try to 
protect from attack - there to keep people back
'Til all anyone saw was that armour he wore
It looked kind of fearsome but all that it said was...

Fragile - handle with care
All it said was fragile handle with
all the care that you can muster
Fragile - handle with care - Fragile

Taking a walk trying to clear out my head
When this dog in the park sets to vet me instead
and he's growling and barking and driving me back
Like a dangerous invader set foot on his land
I saw on his collar a sign there that read….

Fragile - handle with care
What it said was fragile handle with
all the care that you can muster
Fragile - handle with care - Fragile

So the next time you notice me snap or I snarl
I want you to know I don't mean to be cruel
It's a side that comes out when I'm 
weak and I'm low on reserves

Then there's the opposite site of this dance
My beautiful victims with sensitive hearts
Cause the people I growl at they tend to be closest
They’re the people I'm wanting to care for the most
Cause maybe the label on everyone's heart says

Fragile - handle with care
What it said was fragile handle with
all the care that you can muster
Fragile - handle with care - Fragile

Fragile

"You Can Have Wichita" (#447, 210322)

 * co-written with David Easterling * 

Half a million people in this town
Why’s it feel so lonely when the lights go down
Hard as I’m tryin’ I’m no good at readin’ minds
But I can read between the lines

Just like every place before
Same old mistakes but this ain’t in Kansas anymore
A last decision in between these city limits
Just outside that door

You can have Wichita guess I’ll keep on lookin’
Gave it all I got to make it work until I couldn’t
Somehow the dirt here seems to hold your memory
You can have Wichita and it’s all Wichita to me

I won’t pretend to understand
The time I spent building castles in the sand
Everywhere it brought me everything it taught me
Well it made me who I am

You can have Wichita guess I’ll keep on lookin’
Gave it all I got to make it work until I couldn’t
Somehow the dirt here seems to hold your memory
You can have Wichita and it’s all Wichita to me

You can have the clovers that rise up when it rains
Tall grass in the back yard those long hot summer days
You can have the porch swing made for autumn evenings
Lonely as the willow tree season after season

Week 12 - You Can Have Wichita (210322)

I was awoken, the sky was on fire
The stars began shaking, I’m not a liar
I’ve been asleep through many good dreams
I’ve chased my tail, it fell out the seam
Desert rock in my hand
A permanent marker on this wall
Says “take what you need”
“You answered the call”

I was a crane, floating on clouds
I drifted up north, when the spring would allow
I’ve been flying, since I don’t know when
I guess I’ll just keep floating until it begins


Floating, into, the sherbet sunrise
Drifting away, the gasoline eyes
Floating into the comet’s disguise
Jumping on through, abyss the great prize


Tickled by disaster, I know what I mean
My cards are all stacked, neatly it seems
The rain pounds the tin roof
My thoughts are with you
I could have loved you but I had no proof
The stars are all weeping, the moon left our orbit
The dreams he once had, he sold his corvette

Stumble

It's My Time to Shine
                                                
I find the words , then the notes  and magic finds the strings
Catch it quick before it's gone,another one begins
It’s not too late, I’m not too old
I’m digging deep,I’m mining  gold
It’s my  time to shine

I see it in a headline, I read it in a book
I hear it in a movie  and I feel it in a look   
My feet can tap out rhythm, my head can burst with rhyme
And when a song is building , I’m lost inside that  time  

Some arrive in a flash, some take a while
Everyone’s a treasure and each is like my child
Some write for fame & money, some write to hear their voice
Some want to send a message, for me I  have no choice

It's My Time To Shine

The fifth tale of Snow and Cherry

No more Mr. Nice Guy

he's the type they bring home to family dinner
he's the kind they don't know they're looking for
because who wouldn't want to date a winner
just you wait for lines outside his door

dude is so good at bending over backwards
counts the days for his favors to return
he thinks he deserves everything for being nice
but everybody knows nice guys finish last
the only way out is through

no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy

he's so tired of pretending to be simple
there is only so much a man can hide
it's no wonder he can't tell why he's single
all he learned to give is an eye for an eye
the only way out is through

no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy
no more Mr. Nice Guy

he thinks he deserves everything for being nice
but everybody knows nice guys finish last
the only way out is through

Tales of Snow and Cherry

No more Mr. Nice Guy

Copyright 2021 Owen Ryan, Milwaukee, WI & Erin Wolf, Little Chute, WI 

Guitar: Owen Ryan
Lyrics/Vocals: Erin Wolf

Week 12 Prompt: We Used to be Strangers

*Note about the song: This is a super special collaboration. Owen is one of my former youth group students from my earliest days in youth ministry and one hell of an incredible person today. He dropped this guitar instrumental on Facebook recently and was super cool in letting me write lyrics & sing along.*

Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh

we used to be strangers
ships passed in the night
searchlight going showing
all the depths in their might

carve a space here
feel this heartbeat of mine
no need to fear
all we have now is 
time

hear your name carry
over the sea
through waters dark and cloudy
calling from the deep

let my voice sing
you to sleep
let it ring
promise you can keep
home

Strangers (with Owen Ryan)

Copyright Erin Wolf 2021
featuring guitar & worn-out voice

Week 13 Prompt: Cracking paint

sitting on the kitchen floor
staring at the wall
i see the cracking paint
as it chips and falls

hear these creaking floorboards
under my feet
this old house is falling down
but it ain't yet beat

oh oh oh
oh woah oh

see the breaks
in the window panes
letting in the drafts
just the same

hearing the leaking faucet run
just a pain no fun
i know that this could seem like a tale
a metaphor of a kind for you and me

oh oh oh
oh woah oh

if this old house could tell a story
or two
this house would tell the story
of me and you

of how we laughed, loved,
and cried
but also tell the story of
how our love died

This Old House

Let me tell you baby it's been a rough old ride
I tried everything I could to make it work
Didn't make no difference,' and now I find
This life has thrown me down here into the dirt

In a little while I'll probably turn it around
oh but just for now

Oh baby, this is where I a-a-am

I been sitting waiting for a lo-o-ong time
.for this STUpid world to get its show on the road
That ticking clock keeps playing on my mind
I’m sick of staying when my heart’s saying go

And any day I know that EYE shall be released
So just for now

Oh baby, this is where I a-a-am

I know that you’re a fighter, you’ve got heart to burn
And you’d never let this get the better of you
many times I know I’ve been too stubborn to learn
People will help me if I ask them to

And you got your own ways - that it’s something I respect
But if you ever want a hand

Oh baby, this is where I a-a-am

This Is Where I Am

Noon

"Fountains Foundations & Frontiers" (#443, 210305)

Concrete in the mixer spinning round and round
Two by fours in ditches dug into the ground
Sweat rolls down the faces squinting in the sun
At what they created in a cloud of dust

Sculpture in the center posing with a dove
Shaded by the shelter of cirrus clouds above 
Fishes in the water frozen as the sky
Waiting on the winter underneath the ice

Modern man must imitate the screen 
Even if we don't know what it means
On the edge we stare at the abyss
And wonder who made this

Somewhere in the desert where there they built no road
Is my buried treasure that's where I will go
Leave behind this palace let this place decay
Find myself a cabin dream the days away

No more Mr. Nice Guy

cristhopper