Gargantuan Heart

Underwater OR It's best if you

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:35:00 +1100

Song from LookUpLookUp by Melissa Main 2019Recorded with Zoom 6 and condenser mic in single takeBoliviano guitarArmidale, NSWImage: aquatint etching There’s something vastin the spell betweenpresent and pastIn the quiet thereis a beast with velvet furand a rumbling chest
[it’s best if you]
Only cry underwater
In the space between breathsthe depth of great griefcan be expressedwith no pointed or fuzzy social consequenceno howareyoutheretheresisthereanythingIcan do oh
[it’s best if you]
Only cry underwaterOnly cry underwater
There’s something vastin the spell betweenpresent and pastIn the quiet thereis a beast with velvet furand a rumbling chest
[it’s best if you]
Only cry underwater

Clandestine Roads OR Never Mine

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:53:00 +1100

Song from LookUpLookUp 2019 Melissa Main
A song of the sadness and madness of deepening my understanding of Australian colonisation and where we're at with that.
The mist on the flat landsin the moonlight, make a blanketnever mine, or thinethough the for sale signs deny it
how do you live with sadness?How do you do it?How do you live with sadness?How do you, how do you do it?
I drive on clandestine roadsthe truth is colonisedThere’s a haphazard man in rubbish bag vestHe runs it, the gauntlet, at midnightI swerve
How do you live with madness?How do you, how do you do it?How do you live with madness?How do you, how do you do it?
Tea swirlsanti-clockwise to your mouthyour eyes shineWhile gently you laughyou sayhow do you live with sadness?The answer, my loveis with practiceThe answer, my loveis with practicewith practicewith practice
I drive on clandestine roadsI turn leftmore than right.

LookUpLookUp OR Yellow-Tailed-Black Cockatoo

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 14:03:00 +1100

Song from LookUpLookUp 2019 Melissa Main Image: gouache and penSometimes when things are hard, we find friends in the skies.
Oh yellowtailed blackcockatoobe yellinglookup lookupthat rain be coming
let it wash your face cleandon’t be wasting all your dayscrying
But Oh yellowtailed blackcockatoomy neck is so sorefrom holdingmy sorry head upThink I’ll just stay here lying dyingin my mangy wombat hole
Everything takes the time that it takesEvery fuckuptakes a whileto die downeverything takesthe times that it takesevery push upbegins with a good lie downa good lie down
oh yellow tailed black cockatoobe singinglookup lookupthat change be cominglet it lighten your heartdon’t be wishing awaythe daylight
oh yellow tailed black cockatoomy chest is so sorefrom holding my hope togetherbetter I lie face down in the suntil I’m a cakethough I burn everything I bakeI burn everything I bake
Everything takes the time that it takesEvery fuckuptakes a whileto die down
everything takesthe time that it takesyou know every push upbegins with a good lie downa good lie down
LookupLookup

We want it back OR Southern Cross

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 14:30:00 +1100

Song from LookUpLookUp 2019 Melissa Main
Oh southern crossI seek youin the skies above my headwhen I’m looking for home on my feet I roambut I know when I see you I’m as close as I’m ever gonna get
Oh southern crossyou lie next to The emu in the skyI can’t see you throughthe hazy city lightsall the Bogong moths are lostthere’s a silence in our storiesa secret holocaust
Tattooedupon the skinof angry white menshouting things in the nameof a constellationwe want it back We all belong to the sky
Oh Southern Crossyou are a gum treewith 2 noisy cockatooschasing you foreveryou’re a stingray and a shark, you’re a wedge-tailed eagle’s footyou’re the eyes of mirabookalooking at us in the dark
so many thingsyou are
scrawled upon the skinof angry white menshouting things in the nameof a constellationwe want it backWe allbelongto the sky

All we need OR I live on a boat

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 15:23:00 +1100

Rehearsal notes 2018 (J accompanying)
This song is based on a true story.This recording is one of a rehearsal with JK for a show in 2018. There is something so lovely about the harmonies and two guitars, as loose as it is, probably never to be repeated the same way again. A story of hope, childhood and plastic.
I live on a boatmum and dad live on the same boatEverywhere we goOur home goes
There's not a lot of space onA boat that's built for threeBut where the Sky meets the SeaThere's more than we need
Tucked up tightFeet below the bowRocked asleep By the waves There There There There
I live on a boatmum and dad live on the same boatEverywhere we goOur home goes
One night a big storm came throughWe batten down the hatchesThrough the tiny window I watchOcean splash and lightening flashes
Tucked up tightFeet below the bowTold to go to sleep Ignore the waves You're safe safe there there
I'm shaken awake told toput your lifejacket onIt's time to swim to shoreyou don't have to worryBut hurry up darlingWe have to go now cozOur boatIt's sinkingSinking
holding handsWe jump into the waterI oughta be more scared butI know mum and dad are therethere there there
Easy does it slow and steadyWe will get there when we're readyWhen you're tired just lean backWe'll hold your head
Look how close we are now darlingThe sun in coming up up you've been soBrave you are so good at swimmingWe are almost therethere there
feel the sandrub between our fingersRoll together on dry landsafe safe
Used to live on a boatmum and dad used to live on the same boatEverywhere we wentour home would follow
We walk along the salty shoreOur boat lies on the ocean floorEverything I've ever known isgone.
Tucked up tightFeet below the bowhow will I ever sleep without the waves?there there
Look over there what's that says dadall up the beach washed up on the sandBends down to the water and holds up his handRed Yellow and BlueDo these belong to you????
All we need is the three of usand a bag of shipwreckedlego my lego my lego.
Used to live on a boatmum and dad used to live on the same boatbut everywhere you goyour home goes.

PS at the the end of the story, the adult storyteller got up and ran to his cupboard: and brought back a bag of lego: the only thing left from his childhood. I guess in 45,000 years it'll still be here ;)

Stubborn OR Our Stride is Wider Together

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 15:43:00 +1100

I don't often write performance poetry: it is different to songs: harder in some ways. This is my first. The birds are in Nymboida National park: you can hear bellbirds and parrots, the yellow tailed black cockatoo and I think even a pair of wedge-tailed eagles. Recorded on the Zoom 6 with the double mics.
Some call me stubbornbut I just know my own mindI don’t have the same startOr or the same finish lineAs my bothers and sisterstheir rhythm be different to mineMy timeis slower than some andfaster than othersthough our flame is made of the same stuffI’ve had enough of this comparative competitive repetitive fisticuffs
I celebrate you andI commiserate your lossesI’ll wave my hands in the air when you beat your Big Bosses andI refuse to useJealousy or bitterness cozThe difference between us has seen usdivided when it can redeem us leave usconnected with prideour stride is widertogether
I cannot pretend that I am any betterthan anyone else upon this earthmy worthis determinedby the evidencethat I be.You be. We be.
I be stubbornCoz I know my own mindYou can’t tell me what to do where to go or how to findthat which I seek the words I speakmay be borrowed or re-used I hope not abusedI don't own the air which I set to vibrateBut I do careAbout the ripples that I make
And so, I am learning to listenFor when my expression transmissionbecomes a transgressionupon the weary hearts of others whose mothers, or mother's mothers, or mother's mother's mothersbore the brunt of some kind of warFeel the weight that holds them underWhile my fateof birth, colour and cultureallows me to floaton a pretty boatnot unlike The Endeavor
Unless I put my ear to the surfaceI wont hear the silence of longtime injusticeI won't know I have power and privilegeI could lend to mend, I could share to care, could donateto help heal this messof inheritance that my sleepy ignorance I perpetuatesFor in my stubbornness I seek peaceand in my peacemaking I make enemies
And they call me stubborn to make me smallbut they just don't get the concept responsibility of connected autonomy
See they call me stubbornButI call it
Free.
And in paraphrased epiphany quoting Professor Toni Morrison,If you are freeyour only job is to help someone else find their freedomGo.

Don’t Try

Sat, 15 Jan 2022 11:49:12 +1100

I gotta a Friend

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 10:57:04 +1100

I gotta friend who's in my heart

Everywhere I go they go with me

I gotta friend who when I start

To freak out they hug me tightly

I gotta friend who always knows

When to stay and when to go

I gotta friend who shares their lego

Even though they love their lego

I do know this

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 11:04:08 +1100

I don't know where I'm going

I barely know where I've been

I don't know what I've been thinking

I don't know how I locked us in

But I do know this...

Wherever I be going

Ima going with you

Whatever I be doing

Ima doing it next to you

I don't know much but I do know this

The way you paint the rain

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 11:09:59 +1100

O I love you the way you paint the rain

Pay attention to every drop

O I love you the way you say

A universe in every dot

Careful line and nested worlds

Circled souls and life unfurled

O I love you the way you paint the rain

Careful love for every drop

Ur Pal Sal

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 11:14:12 +1100

Everybody needs one

Dancing under the sun

(all the) colour and the kindness

(a) human of the finest

https://urpalsal.com.au/

Medicine

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 19:56:25 +1100

Doing that thing you don't want to do but you gotta do it

mopping the floor

closing a door

quitting a job

meeting your mob

baking a pie

asking em why

starting a band

holding a hand

why don't you just take your medicine?

Stick

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 20:01:37 +1100

Stick Stick Stick

How great how great how great is

a stick?

You could give me a ball

(But how 'bout a stick?)

You could give me a frisbee

(But how 'bout a stick?)

You could give me a cocktail

(But how 'bout a stick?)

You could get me a doctor

But all I really need is

A stick

Jump.

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 20:07:53 +1100

Whatcha looking for?

Where you going now?

Whatcha needing to find

Whatcha hungry for

Where are you headed to

What are you leaving behind

Coz I got to

jump when I gotta jump

roll when I gotta roll

sing when I gotta sing

breathe when I gotta breathe

yell when I gotta yell

eat when I gotta eat

got

to take

care

of me

Ain’t you glad

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 09:32:15 +1000