Easy come and it’s easy go
Like the ebb and flow like the sand and toes
I could end up alright
I used to judge what I didn’t know
Changed a lightbulb out when it didn’t glow
I can’t see in the dark
We could walk if it weren’t so far
Get the car

Coffee cold in the mug downstairs
I forgot it there when you called my name
I like when you say it
No more nights in the old hotel
In the city there where the mountains dwell
Like an offensive line
The sun it sets like it did before
Every time
There you go through the unlocked door
Every time

So I’m calling my next of kin
I should begin at the starting line
Grown up like a poison vine
Climbing my way up to the other side

Moving out like the knights and rooks
Packing up my shoes packing up my books
You were calling my check
When all I want is a sheep to roam
And fence to post and a farm to boast
Weave a basket or two
But all I’ve got is a tank of gas
It’s going fast

Now I’ve changed the locks and turned in the keys
And the memories like a blank cd
I could burn one for you
And I wrote my name on a baseball card
So you won’t forget, shouldn’t be that hard
But it might slip away
And if it does let it slip away
That’s okay
But for now I’ll be on my way
That’s okay 

So I’m calling my next of kin
I should begin at the starting line
Grown up like a poison vine
Climbing my way up to the other side

Next of Kin (7_2_24)

I had a dream we stayed awake all night
Outside a combination of our houses
Oh you were talking nonsense out there
Well I guess I talked some nonsense too

The fire led us down this strange old cave
The other end became that old arcade
The one from the mall before it closed when I was nine
The blacklight made our teeth shine neon green

Talking Nonsense (7_17_24)

Why should I sing when it’s all been sung
Why should I rise with the morning sun
Marigold blooms in the early spring
Maybe that’s all that I needed to see

Go drink when the water is clean
Minnows and mosses all around your feet
You can have it all any time you need
You can have it all

Man I’ve been wishing for a different time
One like I knew back when I was a child
Carving summer squash into tiny boats
Washing our hands with a bar of soap

No i don’t want you to go hungry
I don’t want you to be sad
All of the good time they will return
We can be happy we just have to learn

Summer Squash (7_18_24)

Interlude IV (7_19_24)

Summer sun turned dark I think a storm is rolling in
The rolling thunder scares the dog but the rain is heaven sent
I could watch the grass get greener I could leave my fears behind
As the summer sun turns dark again I’ll just cover up my eyes and I’ll think of you

The wind it howls against the house and the dog won’t leave my side
The rain spills o’er the gutters and starts to pool there by the drive
Whether it lets or comes on down it’s a matter of wait and see
I just watch it go, and let the river flow it’s got nothing to do with me
Nothing at all

Wait And See (7_20_24)

The greenhouse in the valley plants were in there long ago
Your mother sleeps up on the couch
Your brother’s on the phone
Shoot fireworks at paint cans 
swing from branches in the trees
Smoke out of a bottle that we found out in the leaves 

Oh I don’t want to go back home
Out there on the range is where I’m going

Killing bugs with matches killing time under the moon
Steal a dollar from your dad he’s up there in his room
Running out of options growing up inside a car
It will take us hours to retrace the path we’re on

The Greenhouse (7_21_24)

Interlude V (7_22_24)

We drove to the farm stand out towards Mayday near unicoi
Cantaloupes stacked up like pyramids
I put on a cd that I burned for you that morning
The highway coiled around the riverbed

The cd goes un-listen to
The cantaloupe uneaten
But the autumn sun still peers into my mind

Baskets full of collard greens a jar of honey too
Stowed there in the backseat of the car
The radio is quiet I can only hear your voice 
It says turn left here, I know another way

Mayday Near Unicoi (7_23_24)

No more fooling around
No more newspapers, nothing left to doubt
I’d kill for a minute in the sun
The kids read Marx and now they’re finished having fun

I heard a thousand cicadas crying out
They crawled from the earth as they vibrate near the house    

The smoke from the holler cleared
Only for a minute while the beggars disappeared
Washed hands in the outside hose
Black sot from his forehead to the bottom of his toes

Kids Read Marx (7_24_24)

Interlude VI (7_25_24)

Let the rain carve out a path
The least resistant way
Let all my fears hide underneath the darkness of the pines
And tell my friends
Take my things
And let me on my way

I can hear the voice divine
In the wind wrapped round the hills
It answers not the words of mine
Though I will speak them still
The starts come out
My eyes adjust
Enough to see you there

Speak Them Still (7_28_24)

I was drifting off under an apple tree
Cool under the shade of summer canopy
And all the sudden I felt something move
And snake began to slide like sorghum down my way
And wrapped himself around my neck to say
“There’s so much that you have left to see
Just pluck one apple off of this old tree”

I thought about the life I had in front of me
The women, books, and wine that I had yet to keep
And all it takes fruit from just one tree
I thought about the weight of apples hanging there
The gravity of situations I might dare
And through the birds I heard some one I knew
I felt the sky turn dark save the light of the moon

Alex Robinson

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