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Black Mission Figs

by Matt Oleksa

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1.
Battered, tattered The night shattered Moonbeams scattered around The ruins of ivory town Was watchin’ the river Swollen, bitter Slitherin’ through splinterin’ pine Becomin’ claws clutchin’ for time When June showed up In her beat-up pick-up truck And set it all on fire A thousand trains pulled Against the hour ice-cold Rattled the cage Tore the page And leaned against my soul The dream’s a sparrow It rides the arrow Shadows opened space Then falls back into place Nothin’ delivered Wisteria shivered Dew quivered on the vine The mongrel growled down the line When June showed up With a coin and a cup And kissed the backs of my ears
2.
Well, I never crossed the man I never crossed myself I'm just a star-crossed lover-man At the crossroads by himself Well, you ain’t supposed to cross the bridge Until you come to it But I was on the run So I jumped the gun Got caught on my way through it Whoa, since been stranglin', danglin’ over the blue pit Terra, forgive me for what I’m about to do Terra, forgive me before the six o’clock news Down in Arkansas Up a bare gum tree Over a kid with a razor blade He says he wants a piece of me Well, you ain’t supposed to kick a kid No matter how big or mean But one sure gets sick Of arithmetic By the tenth punch to the spleen Whoa, since been slippin’, drippin’ through the in between Terra, forgive me for what I’m about to do Terra, forgive me before the six o’clock news Poor boy, Matty O (that's me) Wanderin’ around his song As harmless as the last dodo At the prom for design gone wrong Well, you ain’t supposed to leave a song Unless it’s got a moral code So eat your fruit And wear a suit And beware of the holes in the road Whoa, since been drinkin’, sinkin’ with Tom Joad Terra, forgive me for what I’m about to do Terra, forgive me before the six o’clock news
3.
Obadiah 02:58
Like his father before him, there came a day When no man could stop him from slippin’ away He’s off to East Texas in a calico Chevrolet Obadiah, Obadiah and the Bear The mules at the roadhouse nearly spilled their wine When his face like a mask gazed down the line An’ fixed on the hills in East Texas where whisper the pine Obadiah, Obadiah and the Bear Meanwhile Linda in her finest golden gown She is leanin’ on a lamppost on the outskirts of town She's got a thumb out for East Texas, the sun meltin’ down Obadiah, Obadiah and the Bear Some people were born to roam A thousand miles from their home There’s a devil in you There’s a devil in me baby, too Between the banks of the Brazos, Spanish moonbeams gleam On currents pullin’ postcards of the Rockies downstream A stone falls through East Texas, sinks in Flannery’s dream Obadiah, Obadiah and the Bear
4.
Miss Ohio 05:36
Come midnight, she’s sufferin’ in her silk Rags stitched with gold Lace and stirrin’ a whiskey and milk With a cigarillo well-rolled Castin’ her last smoke ring Unto a gypsy who walks her track A circus lion who don’t look back Even though she prepared her cold, blue eyes for him The weight of the train Snaps the chain Shakes the rain On her windowpane And whoa, there it goes The thought-dream train of Miss Ohio Once upon a pointin’ out A sparrow sinkin’ in the sun A shadow puffed a bit about A self-ordained chosen one Well-trained in explanation Backed by an abstract code Traced down an ancient road To some hickory palace now wet with gasoline The strike of a match Peels the patch Reveals the catch In a blazin’ collapse And whoa, somewhere in the smoke The notes and quotes of Miss Ohio Got caught again by a kiss in the wind He said she’d never fall From a lover to a friend to a branch in the wind Tremblin’ as the coyotes call For some flesh, some bone to rise from the ashes of a dream A lantern in the distance glows And a heart beats, too, I suppose As the dusk presses its weight against the pearl in her throat Catches her gown On its way down Spins her around Over opened ground And whoa, like spider hangin’ over the valley below Poor, pitiful Miss Ohio When sweet summer mornin’ light Pours upon your fate And shapes your shattered sounds of night When it’s clear you are what you hate The princess poundin’ her little tin cup Come hither young, hungry waitress Crawl over broken glass Fill it with the notes and quotes and smokes... She drops the broom Steps out of the room Where the orchids bloom Through the ruins of the moon And whoa, that’s me in the in the top hat and the coat What’s it going be Miss Ohio?
5.
From a Room 05:34
Heaven comes in a bag You get it down at Joe’s You get it where the ghouls stare Right through you clothes The tall one turns her cheek The second he hears you speak And turns you in for a swig of gin And is up and down the street Now, now don’t you worry That was out of sight And I ain’t in no hurry I’ve got all night Doctor Stephen’s stumblin’ Toastin’ Roanoke The queen’s dream’s busted at the seam Domes of stone to smoke The bad juice spilled through the valley About the time the levee broke When landlady sailed a lily for sale Under my door as a joke Now, now don’t you worry The window’s boarded up And I ain’t in no hurry The door’s bolted shut Your sackcloth and ashes Your satchel of silver spoons Two tickets to the desert, mid-June Ten years in Sam’s platoon All fall one short of the sum Of a noose tied to a balloon And the chance to dance, to rave and prance Silhouetted by the blue in the moon Now, now don’t you worry That was long ago And I ain’t in no hurry There’s nowhere to go The professor’s back from the gutter She drips up and down the hall So vaguely she mutters to me Specifically what to call The neighbor dog floatin’ by on an armoire Iron spires in the eye of a perch The drownin’ man clutchin’ for sand Blue milk drippin’ from the birch tree blossoms But ma, don’t you worry Life's but a dream And I ain’t in no hurry Things ain’t what they seem to be Heaven comes in a bag You get it down at Joe’s
6.
He leans against the window On a Greyhound bus Chill of death on the breath Of a better known as a drunk Towns passin’ by Strangers passin’ gin Stars slippin’ through his grip into The sweetness of the sin There’s come a time Everyone’s alone Pay the piper On the road back home Sky like blood, like brass above The Bear Mount Motel Deep in there—orange blossom in her hair Drink from the well Something pulls her outside Her toes touch the ground Smoke on the wind, comin' ‘round the bend No one else around There’s come a time Everyone’s alone Pay the piper On the road back home There’s a whorehouse near New Orleans Creoles call the Vine Many the man—pearl in hand Beggin’ tide for time Red-cold emptiness Steel-cold as the clay Two doors down, another around Blue room where she lay There’s come a time Everyone’s alone Pay the piper On the road back home
7.
Teresa, I know it’s late And Jack Frost leans against the gate To the coast you call a Van Gogh In a note on your hotel window But a postcard fails to name The rhythm within the frame Those are hands clawin’ inside the clock Milk-cans barkin’ around your block Come down, Teresa, follow it down There’s a hole in the wall at the edge of town And if you lean on in and listen awhile You might fade in the song of the wild In the Cornaro you said you’d play the part Of Bernini—he knew in his heart The fruit of thy Teresa just ain’t ripe Until it tumbles down the drainpipe Well, if you believe that’s true And the carvings in your crutch would suggest you do You’d pull your boots over a bloodhound's past You’d crawl out from under your badge meltin’ fast Come down, Teresa, follow it down There’s a hole in the wall at the edge of town And if you lean on in and listen awhile You might fade in the song of the wild Custom dictates the bucket fill But the bucket caught a stray bullet from the mill The curator rambles as it leaks On Ostia, Byzantium, and Mozambique’s Museum stubs that just don’t do The cracked bell tolls for you The clang and clatter of brittle baroque Howlin’ through your bones down to your coat Come down, Teresa, follow it down There’s a hole in the wall at the edge of town And if you lean on in and listen awhile You might fade in the song of the wild

credits

released June 16, 2015

1. Blue Ridge Incident
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitars, harmonica, percussion
Kevin Bass: bass

2. Terra, Forgive Me
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, cowbell
Kevin Bass: bass, vibraphone
Erik Roget: backup vocals

3. Obadiah
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitar, percussion, truck growl
Kevin Bass: bass, guitar
Erik Roget: drums, backup vocals

4. Miss Ohio
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitar, harmonica

5. From a Room
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitar
Kevin Bass: guitar, bass
Erik Roget: percussion

6. Road Back Home
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitars, harmonica, percussion, organ, foghorn, rope
Kevin Bass: bass
Erik Roget: brushes, backup vocals

7. Ecstasy of St. Teresa
Matt Oleksa: vocals, guitar, harmonica

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Matt Oleksa Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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