Her hair came unpinned
Hairdo taken by the wind
Strands cling to chapstick lips
Hairpins scatter like backflips

Straw hat, floppy, flowered
Summersaulting down the sand
Chasing, laughing, sunburned skinned
Breath and laughter taken by the wind

Bright umbrellas inside out
Like tumbleweeds they pitch about
Time-step chasing at the ocean’s edge
With each wave’s flow and ebb

Kites and voices
Flags and leaves
Cancelled flights
And milkweed seeds

Thoughts, snatched and scattered
Like mist in the morning light
Secret dreams are shattered
On a hot midsummer night

Chasing, laughing, sunburned skinned
Breath and laughter taken by the wind

Chasing, laughing, sunburned skinned
Breath and laughter taken by the wind

From A Slight Bit Of Sunshine, released February 2, 2024
Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Natalie Bond

©️all rights reserved

Taken By The Wind

Blue is the most common of colors
In nature and also for me
The background color for daytime
The whole planet from infinity

Even blackberries get the blues
Bluebells and butterflies
Mermaids, mist and the moon
Dragons, Easter eggs, eyes

When forget-me-nots bloom into you
In a blue lagoon in a dugout canoe
Dreaming of things you won’t do
Wondering what’s all the hullabaloo

When you’re feeling out of true
Like you’re held together with crazy glue
And you need a little tending to
Or maybe just a new tattoo

When blue feels like deja vu
Something you might grow into
In spite of the ocean view
Before it lays waste to you

Let go, let go
Watch it rise into the air
Until it’s just a speck
’Til you no longer see it there

Blue is the most common of colors
In nature and also for me
The background color for daytime
The whole planet from infinity

released March 1, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Steve Klister

©️all rights reserved

The Most Common Of Colors

He died on a train
From Milwaukee to Green Bay
He was only 48
When he got up on that train

A man made long ago
Proud man who rarely smiled
A man full of peace
And his way was mild

A few folks knew his name
But did they know his pain
When he got up on that train
And he was only 48

A treacherous ordinary day
Treacherous and ordinary as air
Trapped in the tick of the clock
Moments of bravado,... then despair

Gone in the blink of any eye
Gone in the blink of a wink
Fear like an illness
Driven to the brink

A man made long ago
Proud man who rarely smiled
A man full of peace
And his way was mild

He suffered once or twice
Nothing seemed bad since
Fallen into solitude
Hard bargains and regrets

He died on a train
From Milwaukee to Green Bay
He was only 48
When he got up on that train

A few folks knew his name
But did they know his pain
When he got up on that train
And he was only 48

He got up on that train
And he was only 48

released March 1, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Krivec Ales

©️all rights reserved

A Man Made Long Ago

She twinkles around
In a breath of scandal
Crazy flame
A beautiful candle

She twinkles around
Like a whimsical fairy
Cloud girl in a star storm
Extraordinary

Twinkle in the sun
Shining bright, burnished golden
Glow in the moonlight
Wild ghost beholden

She twinkles around
Like a child of the rain
Indescribable pixie
On a subway train

She twinkles around
Like a bewildered dove
Full of harmless mischief
And full of young love

Twinkle in the sun
Shining bright, burnished golden
Glow in the moonlight
Wild ghost beholden

She twinkles around
Modest as a flower
A coy child
Drinking whiskey sour

She twinkles around
In a breath of scandal
Crazy flame
A beautiful candle

Twinkle in the sun
Shining bright, burnished golden
Glow in the moonlight
Wild ghost beholden

Twinkle in the sun
Shining bright, burnished golden
Glow in the moonlight
Wild ghost beholden

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Hải Nguyễn

©️all rights reserved

Cloud Girl

Look directly at your own mind
Vast and curious and childlike
Insatiable and transcendent
Pull your finger from the dike

The space between your thoughts
Is the space from which thoughts come,
And into which they disappear.
If you follow the breadcrumb

Knock on the sky
And listen to the sound
Put it out of your mind
Turn the other way around

Simply remain focused
On the space between your thoughts…
The space behind your thoughts.
Is where you test the inkblots

Knock on the sky
And listen to the sound
Put it out of your mind
Get up off the ground

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?
Tell me something you’ve never told to anyone.
Maybe the best thing you’ve ever done;
That you never told to anyone.

Knock on the sky
And listen to the sound
Put it out of your mind
Into the lost and found

Knock on the sky
And listen to the sound
Put it out of your mind
Turn the other way around

The space between your thoughts
Is the space from which thoughts come,
And into which they disappear.

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Nataliya Vaitkevich

©️all rights reserved

Thought Watching

I won’t greet the morning sun
I won’t greet the morning sun
I won’t greet the morning sun
No, I won’t greet the morning sun

I won’t lift the fallen bird
I won’t lift the fallen bird
I won’t lift the fallen bird
No, I won’t greet the morning sun

I won’t swim the mountain stream
I won’t swim the mountain stream
I won’t lift the fallen bird
No, I won’t greet the morning sun

I won’t breathe the deeper breath
I won’t swim the mountain stream
I won’t lift the fallen bird
No, I won’t greet the morning sun

I will breathe the deeper breath
I will swim the mountain stream
I will lift the fallen bird
Yes, I will greet the morning sun

Yes, I will breathe the deeper breath
Yes, I will swim the mountain stream
Yes, I will lift the fallen bird
Yes, I will greet the morning sun

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Baritone Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: paul jousseau

©️all rights reserved

Deeper Breath

A floppy straw hat and an open suitcase
She was tougher than she was brave
One case full of regrets about the past
One full of worries about the grave

It’s the journey that matters, in the end
So receive it with a yes
An unidentifiable yearning
An adventuress in a yellow dress

Confused by the simple ways
Of the most complicated people
Ready for radical surrender
A cosmic thread of the needle

Like a swallow in Autumn
Restlessly ready to fly
Graceful and iridescent
Gone in the blink of an eye

It’s the journey that matters, in the end
So receive it with a yes
An unidentifiable yearning
An adventuress in a yellow dress

Vast, silent, splendid in the sunshine
Saturated colors disarrayed
Sinking into sun-strewn water
Naked and unafraid

Sudden silence sounds like noise
Her breath breathes itself
Present moment, only moment
elemental as a sylph

The slow, huge task of being human
Of holding on and hanging in
The slow, huge task of being human
Of hanging in then letting go

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Havva Yılmaz

©️all rights reserved

The Journey

The words I need to say
Go racing ‘round my mind
More real than stuff & things
Like shoeshine and moonshine

Morning dim in the distance
Like the last of summer wine
The brightness of your spirit
Timeless and genuine

Everyday stuff & things
Sparkle, glow, and shine
Sigh like a passing breeze
Blowing ‘cross the county line

The words I need to say
Go racing ‘round my mind
More real than stuff & things
Like shoeshine and moonshine

In the pale watery moonlight
Think of me and drop a line
Dense fulsome accolades
Fragment and intertwine

Sigh like a passing breeze
Blowing ‘cross the county line

Sigh like a passing breeze
Timeless and genuine

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Martina

©️all rights reserved

Stuff & Things

Color me happy with your smile today
Color me lonesome when you’re gone away
Color my world green and wild
Dance with me like a child

Color my world bright like the sun
The very same way as we first begun
Then with your last, great, white light
Color the stars in the golden night

Color the heart of the sea, moon, and sky
Color the land and the good air true
Color the wild city velvet black
Color the ocean’s eyes blue

Color me happy with your smile today
Color me lonesome when you’re gone away
Color my world green and wild
Dance with me like a child

A house by the sea and the sound of the sun
Set my soul on sweet fire with its rays
Clear cold water and the bright young night
Color the spirit of the holy waves

Color me happy with your smile today
Color me lonesome when you’re gone away
Color my world green and wild
Dance with me like a child

The painful power of a summer song
From the ancient waters of the future sea
Color the right winds of the bright air
Bird’s shadow on the flowering tree

Sacred light on the earth’s sweet grass
Color silver moon’s eternal sigh
Light the silent joy of the winter garden
Color the tears of the lonely sky

Color me happy with your smile today
Color me lonesome when you’re gone away
Color my world green and wild
Dance with me like a child

Color my world green and wild
Dance with me like a child

Dance with me like a child

from The Words I Need To Say, released May 3, 2024

Kathy Folkulele: Ukulele, Vocals

Photo by: Jill Wellington

©️all rights reserved

Color Me

The wind among the stars
Finds me dreaming safely blue
While inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

It’s dark and vague outside
And the wind burns clear through
While inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

The pouring down rain
Is pouring down rain-dark walls
and I’m all alone
Wandering these nervous halls

The room holds its breath
Searching for a clue
And inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

Atmospheric, unsettling
Wholly brave and true
And inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

The pouring down rain
Is pouring down rain-dark walls
and I’m all alone
Wandering these nervous halls

Atmospheric, unsettling
Wholly brave and true
And inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

And inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

And inside my heart
Thrashes wildly you

©️all rights reserved

Inside My Heart Demo

Singer-songwriter. Ukulele enthusiast. Acoustic Folk, Indie, and beyond. Catch me streaming live on StageIt! ☮️

Kathy Folkulele

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