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Choice Cannonballs

by Daniel Levi Goans

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1.
Stars are ringing, bringing rain Shocking clouds with light Thunder breaking window panes Fighting back the night Wind is singing joyfully Beating on my screen Wooden doors strike wooden frames Blows brought by the unseen Wind in the trees Breezes knock my knees I can hear the secret songs They condescend to me Voices dark and bright Overwhelm the wet terrain Flashing eyes shine out from the void Breaking shadows up with flames (Breaking up shadows with flames) Electric mist coats everything And I breathe it in my lungs The ground beneath is rumbling With the unseen dancing young And the symphony burns brilliant Neath the bleak sky streaked with white The ocean bell keeps casting spells Raising spirits in my mind
2.
You see the green trees, you know the summer eaves Where we sometimes say That we could leave the ground, no skin to weigh us down And spin up into space Sweet music rains down from towering clouds Filled with amber grain Our ears catch the sound, which shakes the very ground With a soft and soaring sound I see a brilliant sky, I see from heights so high Heights so high You see the spring leaves, you know the golden sheaves Where the dreamers stay They laugh and revel loud at the wholly torn shroud And keep their fears at bay
3.
American hearts are always moving to the west, Breaking borders, pushing lines, claiming without rest The setting sun it leads the way at the end of every day Tracing paths through humid air to sleep in Pacific seaspray. I’ve heard tell of prison cells built inside the brain I’ve seen the spark leap from your lips and set the ground aflame Set me free, Set me free Sons are leaving home by night, shaking off the chains Daughters laugh under moonlight, escaping by trains and planes Highway friends reach out their hands to feel the slanted rain Madame George is ringing out over Black Diamond Bay The stars are painted on your face, a sign for all to see You wonder why the people stare, when you dance wild and free Twisting roads and concrete stones and a spray paint overpass Building speed and overheated pistons firing fast Shining dreams and sunset beams revive the cold, hard heart And chiming bells and songs dispel the fear of coming apart Freedom Riders bravely board buses in the East Fire flies from upturned eyes, we did our best at least Voices sounding in my brain, building walls of glass There’s no more far away my friend, I’ll be a stranger til I pass
4.
Houses 04:27
spires, towers, spinning lights lines are dotted red and white mazes, gridlock, open eyes scenic view of hard pressed lies open windows, shot gun shells burned up pages, ringing bells a tarnished coin, an empty well a father’s daughter’s prison cell smoke is rising, burning white heat colliding with the night (knife) a hundred names a thousand sighs get emptied out into the sky smoke and songs are burning bright mingling with the blue midnight chimneys stand like sentinels sending out choice cannonballs the night is breathing in the sound mixed up, furious, and loud voices rise up to the clouds like a swirling, violent crown the wind is blowing on the hill shaking curtains, whistling shrill the age old story, of the old mill thin cigarettes are burning still an open wound, a family name a farewell souvenir in flames a lover’s shattered window pane an old man’s smiling worn-out game four walls on that crooked lane four walls filled with four last names four lives and four hurricanes four young faces board a train
5.
All you like to do, baby all you like to do is talk to me baby (x2) Your lips keep right on moving, I just want your feet to do some provin’ But all you like to do, baby all you like to do is keep talking to me baby My ears sure are tired baby, they are filled with your whining, your crying sounds Please dry those pretty eyes, baby still those lonely sighs My ears sure feel tired, worn out from all the whining, the crying sounds I hate to see you go baby, I hate to see you go, but I’m still watching, yes I’m still watching You took a righteous stand, told me to be a man, but I’m still watching Watching you walk away All you like to do baby, all you like to do is talk to me I thought I could keep listening, but I just can’t keep from bristling I just don’t like to hear you talk no more, not no more So take a righteous stand, so say I’m just a man, baby, that’s right, just a man
6.
Moonlight filling up my dreams And I got to know your name Symphonies and silver leaves Pushing back the shame Ironclad broke down renegade Pulling at my strings Speaking curses at my back As I press on un-singed Get off my back, I can’t carry you Get off my back, I don’t want to Visions flash before my eyes And they keep me up at night Grand cathedrals, towers, and steeples Appear among my sighs Sneaking men with snaking eyes Fill the air with dust Striking fear with smiling sneers And breaking up my trust Phantom figures filled with gold Do not resonate With discordant, upturned days Not all love, some hate Friends and foes both criticize me Chaining me with names I’ll fill my ears with fiery tears To still the naming game
7.
Suitcase Man 05:33
There was a suitcase man, Did all that he can, Started out walking Singing with lifted hands The suitcase man The suitcase man, Even when he began, Had brains and a Bible, Taking a threatening stand Here comes the suitcase man, Packing unpopular plans Trading walking for bus rides All through the darkened Southland. How can you measure a man? By the strength of his hands The color of his skin Or the horrors that he stands So asked the suitcase man There goes the suitcase man He holds no gun in his hand Got locked up for talking Down in Birmingham That’s the suitcase man There went the suitcase man, To Memphis Tennessee land A bullet tore through his body It tore through his plans Bombs are exploding, Church bells are broken The people are choking And the country’s reeling The people are feeling A change a’coming In the early morning Time for a new dawning And a new foundation For their children to stand on The new generation Free from domination Living lives full of freedom
8.
Sunglasses 04:02
Black and backward, magazine sunrise Weeping gypsy, laughter in her lies Dancing soldier, glancing right to left, Silent rhythms, making loud requests I fly solo, eyes held back by reins A blood red hobo, transformed in the brain All the onlookers stand amazed It’s a righteous, sure-fire, bona fide black bouquet Hidden eyes sparkling, heart of darkness, You know I’m ready, its Saturday night. Black and backward, immaculate surprise Brand new hometown, a comfortable disguise, Colors slowed down, covered up with lead, People toned down, dimmed and dark instead My hand is steady, my gaze is guaranteed Even my footfalls, now show subtlety. All the onlookers stand amazed It’s a righteous, sure-fire, bona fide black bouquet Hidden eyes sparkling, heart of darkness You know I’m ready, its Saturday night. Looking through mirrors down from the throne Iconoclast of salt and chrome He swaggers, walks alone Hand is steady, its Saturday night.
9.
Even when I was a baby It was deep down in my bones I knew a restless kind of feeling I knew I had to go No place feels like home When I was a young man Blood pounded through my brain Every single night and day The highway called my name I knew I could not stay I knew I had to go No place feels like home A million different cities A thousand different towns Not one could hold me No place can hold me down No place feels like home I thought when I’s an old man The road it’d slow me down But every day when I wake up I feel the need to leave town Still have a restless kind of feeling I know I have to go No place feels like home The colors and the ocean Break my skin and stretch my mind It’s the only place big enough The only home I can find Even hundreds of miles of water No land the eye can see Even all that blue expanse No place feels like home to me
10.
On my final day In my final hour When I saw your face Nothing to do but smile Fire leapt up From your fingertips I felt the cold steel Of the pistol grip She put the red dress on With eyes painted black Met me down that road With her suitcase packed Bright lights and moving pictures All spoke my name Til burning lead Cut through my brain
11.
In the morning when the sky is grey I’ll blow a kiss as I sail away I’ll cross the ocean and I’ll reach the land I’ll drop the anchor and I’ll kiss the sand I’ll leave the boat there drifting off the shore I’ll walk toward Eden where I was before The lonesome ocean song is all I hear The lonesome night makes the stars appear Love, come to me Love, speak sweetly Love, make me whole Love, don’t let me grow old In the evening when the lights will fade I’ll stand on top of the roof and sway I’ll move in rhythm with the silent clouds I’ll play a melody that’s fierce and loud Every night I’ll dream of you, so dark and bright Your beauty’s written in night’s starry skies The gated garden it is closed to me There’s remnants left still, don’t you agree From the coast of Barcelona to the south of France The boots of Spanish leather and linen pants Her eyes shine with the beauty given only to night That’s the type of beauty that God denied to daylight Tomorrow morning when the sky is grey I’ll blow a kiss and I’ll sail away
12.
Before the sun comes up, I hear the morning Before the sun comes up, I hear the morning The warm light opens up my eyes, opens up my eyes The warm light opens up my eyes, opens up my eyes I see a brilliant sky, I see from heights so high Heights so high In the midday sun, under a stolen tree In the midday sun, under our stolen tree I breathe the precious air, it lifts me up off the ground I breathe the precious air, it lifts me right up off the ground I see into your eyes, I see a calm clean sight A calm clean light When the sun goes down, the night sky comes to life When the sun goes down, the night sky comes to life I smile at singing stars and the halo of the moon I smile at singing stars and the halo of the moon I sleep soundly I dream peacefully Under shaded trees
13.
Epilogue 02:08

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released September 23, 2009

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Daniel Levi Goans North Carolina

Heeding to the winds and the waves on the Bay, BrotherStranger looks into the loneliest moments of human experience with a piercing gaze that weaves them into a place of tenderness and safety. These meditations are nestled in a poetic cadence that resists modern cynicism and fragmentation while harkening to a place in our hearts and our heritage that recognizes the sacred nature of narrative. ... more

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