Words: Poems, Lyrics, Stories and more

Marching In 

Marching In

     by Phil Norton

Saint Bad Mouth Betty

Saint Jimmy the Snitch

Saint Timpani de Lullaby

Saint Low Down Lying Son of a Ditch

 

Saint Indiscretion         

Saint No Way Out

Saint Maudlin Jane of Unwed Dreams

Saint Francis of the Shout

 

They're marching in

They're marching in

Oh Yes the saints

Are marching in 

They're marching in

They're marching in

Oh Yes the saints

Are marching in 

 

Saint Hoochi Koochi Mama

Saint Brass Knuckle Bill

Saint All Night Diner

Saint If The Gutter Don't Get You The Dog Catchers Will

 

Saint Travesty May

Saint Never Be True

Saint Standing on the Corner in a Puddle Of Moon

Saint I Wouldn't Do That If I Was You

 

Chorus

 

Saint Lethargy

Saint I Owe You

Saint Buckshot Kate

Saint Muddling Through

 

Saint What's The Point

Saint I Don't Know 

Saint Tragedy Jack

Saint Go Go Go

 

Saint Gertrude of the Lazy Garter

Saint Timothy of the Last Hurrah

Saint Oscar of the Dented Trilby 

Saint Martha of the Lonely Lips

Saint Genevieve de Fishnets

Saint Frank of the Flickering Neon

Saint Troubadour

Saint Margo of the Drowning Smile

Saint Daniel of the Broken Shoestrings

 

 

Unspoken 

Unspoken
 
Busted headlight
Missing wheel
Dead transmission
That's how I feel
No destination
And no bus token
All 'cause this love inside of me 
remains unspoken
 
Unspoken
Unspoken
 
Empty bottle
Burnt-out sign
Run-down wristwatch 
Run out of time
My picture's faded
The mirror's broken
All 'cause this love inside of me 
remains unspoken
 
Unspoken
Unspoken
 
Silence isn't golden it's a cell
It's not that I can't feel
I just can't tell
My heart is sealed in walls of stone
They keep me safe 
And so alone
The password from my prison cell
Is "you"
 
Rusted hinges
Bolted door
Half-way staircase
Can't find the floor
The window's shuttered
The lock won't open
All 'cause this love inside of me 
remains unspoken
 
Unspoken
Unspoken
 

Postcard From the Future 

Dear Yesterday,
 
NOW is so fast the weather isn't here yet.  NOW is big like a brother and more expensive than a greasy quantum mechanic’s bill for overhauling your fate.  NOW pops out of every second's birthday cake wearing nothing but a watch.  NOW does a mobius striptease to the beat of your heart. NOW is half-naked. The future is NOW (but just a little bit later).
 
Sincerely,
    Tomorrow (and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow)

The Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy 

The Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy 

 


      By Philip Norton aka Preachermansays

May the Monkey-Tailed God of Jubilation show me how to swing
May the Eagle-Eyed God of Elevation take me underneath his wing

May the Bat-Blind God of Navigation help me to see

And may the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

 

May the Nine-Lives Cat of Resurrection give me one more chance

May the Spider-Legged God of Boogie-Woogie invite me to the dance

May the Heron God grace my stance with dignity

And may the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

 

Chorus:

Mercy on me. Mercy on me.

May the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

Mercy on me. Mercy on me.

May the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

 

May the Lion-Throated God of Proclamation unleash my roar

May the Dragon-Breathed Goddess of Destruction benevolently pass my door 

May the Chicken Goddess fly the coup and set me free

And may the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

 

Chorus

 

I may stumble. And I may fall. 

But I got me an equine deity to help me through it all. 

Along the road to serenity, 

I got my goddess trotting next to me

 

May the Mayfly God of Carpe Diem keep me in the day

May the Hundred-Knee-ed Centipede of Humble kindly teach me how to pray

May the Canary God of Premonition tell me when to flee

And may the Horse-Headed Goddess of Mercy have mercy on me

 

Chorus 

Stilt-walkers 

Stilt-walkers

     by Philip Norton aka Preachermansays

Remember, you come from a Long family of stilt-walkers. We live amongst the clouds and the albatross. Our thoughts are lofty; our dreams are taller than the ancient mountain ash. When I first met your father, he towered 80-foot above the pavement. He held out his hand and offered me a new kind of longing. Come, and teeter with me on the brink of Heaven, he whispered. For our wedding, his parents gave us stilts tall as skyscrapers. May you always stand together, they said, and remember the secret to a happy marriage: Never look down; never look back. And so, like two children spinning together, we hold hands and stare into each other’s eyes to maintain our balance. He steadies me. I steady him. We fly like buttresses, joyful on our precarious limbs. Our Love is one of life’s sweet dangers. Below us, the safe and the cautious remain strangers. 

 

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The Flame Music Night

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What we got for you here is....... Phil Norton who with musical panache insists in song and word that he is NOT a musician.

Max Dodds, is a Canadian who - according to Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen - is an even greater songwriter than Alexander Graham Bell.

Atlanta-based Nick Takénobu Ogawa, a classically trained musician and composer who takes a dash of bluegrass, a hint of blues, adds a heart-full of non-traditional sounds and lets it all out on his cello.

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