1. |
Protection
05:18
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Protection
If a mask is your task, just ask Tukka Rask
Who’s always got a mask, he’s not swigging from a flask
Protection
How to define it
We all need it
Varies under circumstances
Expected of all
If you’re putting on a shield
Then your face is still revealed
You hope germs will yield
Good deal
Protection
Consistently applied
Thank you in advance for your
Yourself and others
Peace of mind
Staying in your cohort
Your personal fort
No one can take you to court
As an irresponsible sort
Protection
We all await our own
Keeping a distance
You’re avoiding resistance
And extending your existence
As long as you have persistence
Take the time to sanitize
Your movements may well hypnotize
If you don’t you’ll scandalize
And problems and germs will arise
You can’t share the air
Burt be fair and wear
A layer to show you care
And let them dare to stare
The washing of hands demands
The water lands in thick bands
And soap is smeared as planned
Keep your mind educated
All of the time that you’ve waited
For solutions located
And defeat the problems created
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2. |
Barotrauma
02:06
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3. |
I am the Commodity
02:42
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I am the Commodity
Ever- shrinking attention span
It’s on purpose, part of their plan
Addiction as intentionally designed
Amplified while we are all confined
But I don’t want to stop
Just a little more
But I really should
Can I come right back?
And why is that?
I am the commodity
Time passes and I sit and stare
So distracted that I’m barely aware
Of the rest of my life as I lose another day
But I feel so empty when I dare to look away
We/they/you are the commodity.
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4. |
Arachnoiditis
02:43
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5. |
Twisting My Words
02:18
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Twisting My Words
Loyalty
Relied on by authority
Actually a fantasy
Hospitality trickery
Honesty
Loyalty’s enemy
Nobody’s reality
Undeniably unhealthy
You’re twisting my words, so I’ll twist yours
Yours obscures and mine endures
Mine endures and yours obscures
Society
Technology dependency
Subconsciously complicity
Guaranteed obscurity
Bureaucracy
Institutional monotony
Malignancy without irony
Incomprehensibility
Morality
Typically a trinity
Piety and blasphemy
A cautionary prophecy
Sanity
Defined by psychology
Accuracy of memory
Reality in harmony
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6. |
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Everything is Happening All of the Time
Everything is happening all of the time
And I have no choice but to filter it out
How can I understand a thing if I can’t understand everything?
Conceiving of reality is beyond my mind
Our ever-changing world simply cannot be defined
I see a tiny slice of what’s really around me
Only a fragment of this I understand
I fill the gaps in with errors to console me
Reassured that all is going as I planned
We can never understand effects of our actions
Yet we still act all of the time
Creating a web of stimuli reactions
Spreading to an ever-shifting paradigm
There is no point in blaming
Or obsessing over guilt and worry
All causes are beyond comprehension
Things that seemed clear once examined become blurry
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7. |
Reset
03:42
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Reset
We watched as it fell apart
We joined in and down it came
There were pieces that we missed so much
We mourned alone without assigning blame
For so long we thought we were helpless
You can’t change what’s beyond your control
It made us hopeless, afraid and angry
And it appears that this was somebody’s goal
What to keep, what to remove
What to create, what to improve
Use the reset for change
We’re tired of all the words and promises
Do something that makes it better for real
We can actually shape the future
Speed up incremental reform
Fix what we consider injustice
The status quo is what we need to transform
Are the things we surround ourselves with
Making us happy or increasing our stress
Is the information that we turn to
Giving us hope that we can clean up this mess.
We saw that nothing was permanent
So much we should not have kept for so long
We were used to things which just harmed us
Never changing what was obviously wrong
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8. |
COVID-19
03:58
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9. |
Rectangles
04:37
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Rectangles
Sightless and mute we type in our key
Then light and a series of faces all looking at me
Study them, you can stare while waiting for the lates
Flat like paper and stacked like crates
We control what they see
We define our only space
This is not reality
It’s what was put there to replace
Presence, contact, now forbidden
We have an image and maybe a name
Keep your real self well hidden
Your life defined within a frame
We’re living in our rectangles
We decorate our rectangles
I see you in your rectangles
What’s beyond your rectangles
I judge you by your rectangles
We’re all alone in rectangles
For how long stuck in rectangles
Some are dark and others in murk
Some move with strange and sudden jerks
Watch their hands they have minds of their own
And eyes which follow images unknow
Each face you see just might contain
Potential drops to spread the virus
Unless we all on our own remain
And do whatever they require us
Worse we cannot trust the air
Though social creatures we remain
Balance safety and sanity with care
And hope for happy days again
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10. |
Meg's Song
03:34
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Meg’s Song
The wife has asked for it
A place in immortality
To have herself inserted in a song
I must be careful, she’ll listen closely
Her expectations always high
For something she’s been waiting for so long
I could be witty and talk around it
Create a song about that song
But she ain’t fooled so easy anymore
But I, I don’t write love songs
They’re far too common and commercial,
Don’t you agree
There are far too many love songs
That league of insincere poets doesn’t need me
I could be flippant, create a critique
Exaggerate her faults
But then she’d start exaggerating mine
Or make a list of things we’ve done together
With a wistful look into the distance
And warble some old shmaltzy cliched line
But I, I can’t write love songs
It’s a fundamental principle I’m asking you to respect
Even if you might deserve a love song
You must know by now that the best things in life are indirect
So happy birthday and sing along with
The tune born of the thought of Meg
If you wanted something different
Should have married Elton John
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Mr. Smith Toronto, Ontario
Coming from Saint John, New Brunswick, Mr. Smith has been in many a band. Some Purple Larvae, Alexander Salamander, Caboose of Death, Cynics, Food and Feedback have all benefited from his presence. Now a solo act, his latest two recordings are now on Bandcamp. Coming at the breathtaking rate of one per decade, it's hard to keep up. Rectangles, his latest is Covid themed! ... more
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