a spade

i will not lie down
on the wrongful ground or play
while it’s still a radical sound
just to call a spade a spade
dear friends, women and men
please check my math once more
in the totality of all war’s history
there’s but one common denominator
the answer is in the intention
that lies behind the question
put that on your standardized multiple choice
i mean, how’s this supposed to look to me
but half of divinity
out there trying to make harmony
with only one voice

you know i’ve got experience
looking right past the obvious
so i know what is so big and so close
is always the hardest stuff
for us to reckon with
the hardest stuff to know

dear friends, especially the women,
tell me are you up to the task?
of turning the wheel on human history
at long last

the answer is in the intention
that lies behind the question
put that on your standardized multiple choice
i mean, how’s this supposed to look to me
but half of divinity
out there trying to make harmony
with only one voice

i will not lie down
on the wrongful ground or play
while it’s still a radical sound
just call a spade a spade

dear friends, women and men
what better time to face
that we’ve been looking for
the answer to war
in the wrong place

tonight you stooped to my level
i am your mangy little whore
you are trying to find your underwear
and then your socks and then the door
and you’re trying to find a reason
why you have to leave
i know it’s ‘cuz you think you’re adam
and you think i’m eve

you rhapsodize about beauty
and my eyes glaze
everything that i love is ugly
i mean really, you would be amazed
just do me a favor
it’s the least that you can do
just don’t treat me like i am
something that happened to you

i am truly sorry about all this

you put a tiny pinprick
in my big red balloon
and as i slowly start to exhale
that’s when you leave the room
i did not design this game
i did not name the stakes
i just happen to like apples
and i am not afraid of snakes

i am truly sorry about all this
i envy your ignorance
i hear that it’s bliss

so i let go of the ratio of things said to things heard
and i leave you to your garden
and the beauty you preferred
and i wonder what of this
will have meaning for you
when you’ve left it all behind
i guess i’ll even wonder
if you meant it at the time

everywhere she looks
she looks through the corner of her eye
everytime she left
she never turned to say goodbye
swaying in the corner of the ballroom
alone by the music
she looked like a spiderweb

fresh from the war
he complements her bedroom decor
she crawled in there like water
she drowned in there on the floor
she left him gasping for air
and crying for more.
and the morning sun was embarrassed to find them
lying together
neither could remember the other’s name
he stepped out of her mind
and into the hall
and they never saw each other again.
whoaa…
and someone gave her a manual of love in the world today
and that page is not pulpy because there is no proper way
it’s so easy for those with the unclenching eye
to find some unfulfilled human being to fry
she is looking for the kisses that she never got at home
her lips are puckered and she is walking alone
and if she ends up with some dirty hot disease
it’s a small price she pays for the need to be pleased.
and there are too few who open both eyes
we sit back in our easy chairs and try to sympathize
but whether from the point of a needle
or the edge of her bed
our heroine like too many others now is dead
and lisa is lucky, she ended up with a baby boy
she’s 16 years old, doesn’t know her body’s not a toy
joel is hungry, he is doing the town
andrea is on the rebound.
walk to the corner and run from what you find
we have to abort our cannibalistic state of mind.
everywhere she looked
she looked through the corner of her eye
and everytime she left she never turned to say goodbye
swaying in the corner of the ballroom
alone by the music
she looked like a spiderweb.

fresh from the war
he complements her bedroom decor
she didn’t know this time she was the victim
he had nothing to lose anymore…

i love you and you love me
and ain’t that that way it’s supposed to be?
i swing my stick legs ’round from the root
and i pile drive each foot into a platform boot.
and i’m up and i’m out cuz i’m bouncing off the walls.
and i come when you call and you call.
i got a super cute three piece suit.
one piece for your body.
one piece for your smile.
one more little piece if you stay a while.
yeah, cuz i love you and you love me.
ain’t that the way it’s supposed to be?
i gotta beeline double time.
leave my home sweet home for your honeycomb.
then i show up steady ready and proud and i find i’ve forgotten how to talk out loud.
isn’t it just like you to bring me to my knees in my brand new stockings
while the cat is out with my tongue.
isn’t it just like you to bring me to my knees in my brand new stockings.
love makes me feel so dumb.
cuz i love you and you love me and ain’t that the way it’s supposed to be?
yeah, cuz i love you and you love the me.
ain’t that the way it’s supposed to be?

words and music by ani difranco

what dreams cause me
to abandon my pillow each night?
push away each of them, in fact
since there always seem to be more than one
then wake to aching stiff neck twisted
tits and face smashed against the mattress
legs and arms akimbo
like the high pitched body of a jumper
waiting for her chalk outline
finally at rest