1. |
Look Away
01:07
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It took a life sentence to show me how to love today
It took a life sentence to show me how to look away
So close your eyes if you don’t like the color of my skin
Close your eyes if you are not willing to look within
It used to bother me what you had to say
I would meet hate for hate
It took a life sentence to show me how to forgive
It took a life sentence to show me how to live
So close your ears if you don’t like my voice
Close your heart if you don’t like my love
It took a life sentence to show me how to give
It took a life sentence to show me how to love
Look away if you don’t like the color of my skin
Better yet, look within, for I will love you anyways
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2. |
Sag
02:22
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How do I hold my temper in keeping my grace
How do I hold my temper in keeping my grace
And not become bitter and stuck in this infamous place
I remember even at seven I dreamed of a better place
A better race than a human race
Stuck in this infamous place without a trace
Only a history of misery and indentured slavery
I pledge no allegiance to this flag
And free I let my pants sag
(Free, I let my pants sag)
I am the little black boy’s soul, taken from his mother’s bosom and sold
While the old ones still linked to Africa kill
The white ones with their heads down and eyes closed
Stuck in this infamous place without a trace
Only a history of misery and indentured slavery
I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag
(I let my pants sag)
I am John Lennon who spoke of one race and of one place
I am Mother Teresa who came to death row
(I am Mother Teresa who came to death row)
Unafraid of any gunner
I am Martin Luther King Jr.
Shot down on the balcony in the midst of his dream
I am Malcolm X betrayed by the beastly and burnt surreptitiously
Stuck in this infamous place without a trace
Only a history of misery and indentured slavery
(I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag)
I am the one not mentioned in your constitution as human
Not allowed to vote until it made no difference
Job is just a two thousand and three year old metaphor
A true warrior was a slave, and John brown the true hero of the brave
I am Emmett Till, hung from a old beautiful southern willow tree
Stuck in this infamous place without a trace
Only a history of misery and indentured slavery
I pledge no allegiance to this flag and free, I let my pants sag
Free, I let my pants sag
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3. |
Hard But True
02:19
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Hard but true
I had just turned twenty, a first termer,
Who had never been in any major trouble before
I sat in a jail cell and waited months on an all-white jury to decide on a death sentence or life in prison
I could not relate to either one
The jury could not decide between a slow death
Or a quick one
I am being killed by a slower execution than the people on death row
It’s like I was covered in sugar syrup and layed out on an anthill
In essence, people on death row and life sentences both await death
After a few years, death row prisoners are given an execution date
A certified notice of when they will be killed
I had a hung jury and a judge gave me life in prison without parole
Looking back decades later there had been no second chance for me
Even though that kid I was who did the crime died more than forty years ago
And I’m here
I’m not on death row, cuz I know that after ten or twenty years of waiting
The person being executed most of the time is not the same man or woman who did the crime
The killing of that prisoner results in just one less mouth to feed in prison
But there has been no justice served
Most likely that lost soul who may have been guilty or not
Has found and transformed themselves into a thinking, caring, and deeper human being
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4. |
Dance
02:52
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Well ah most of my girlfriends been bi
And I try to encourage them to get another girl before
If you’re not strong enough to accept her life that’s on you
You shouldn’t even be with her, that’s the way I feel
Baby you held my hand, and I held yours back
And you told me that I was a good man and that I’d understand
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way
The sun flares, the wind’s gust, it’s natural for gulls to make a fuss
You are my girl and when I dream of you, you rock my world
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way
You are my girl, and we you dance
I can see you together, in your own world
The world stands still
I saw you hug, I saw you kiss, I saw you dance together in the mist
You still have my heart because I love you, and wouldn’t do nothing to pull you apart
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and I don’t care how far down they go
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way
And I see you together in a spectacular way
[This call and your telephone number will be monitored and recorded]
Computer lady, getting down, dirty, funky
Some fish could change sex at will
Others can make babies on their own
And when my girl spreads her wings and fly
That’s okay because we touch the sky
And I don’t care what people think, I don’t care what they say, I don’t care what they feel
If you want me to stay I will
The moon beckons you to dance
Sometimes pulling you into a trance
My girlfriend has a girlfriend and that’s okay, ‘cause I’m freaky that way
Baby I’m freaky that way,
So dance baby dance,
Dance baby dance
Dance baby dance
Dance baby dance
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5. |
Computer Lady
02:46
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This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
You have anything to do with prison, you know…
Computer woman wants to be treated like a lady
But her voice is so cold, rude, and shady
She will cut you off and the middle of grieving
In the middle of loving, in the middle of leaving
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
GTL, your computer daddy, can go straight to hell
Unfeeling, uncaring, no human in your voice
60 seconds is your choice
Computer woman wants to be treated like a lady
But her voice is so cold, rude, and shady
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
Will be monitored –
Invading conversations like weeds to a flower party
And recorded.
You have no real concept of time, how flexible it could be,
Just a figment of the imagination that cannot be bought or sold
There’s nothing more important to the computer lady than to tell you,
You have sixty seconds to love
She will cut you off and the middle of grieving
In the middle of loving, in the middle of leaving
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
Computer lady and your daddy GTL can go straight to hell
Invading conversations like weeds to a flower party
So be ready, because the computer lady is quite rude, distant, and shady
And your daddy GTL can go straight to hell
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
This call, this call will be monitored and recorded
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6. |
No Moon
02:11
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I was afraid this would happen
The way that night looks with no moon
The way the wind whistles off the back porch
You want to love me
How can I tell you I have life but I don’t have a life?
What can I tell you?
Shall I tell you about the bars that don’t speak?
Or the razor wires that long to sever the throat?
Or the cold winds that bounce off the emptiness?
Should I tell you about the trees two hundred yards away
Across the river of electric wire
How the trees haunt me,
Like the smell of barbecue
Like the scent of a mountain meadow
Like the sight of crimson painted toes
Across the river, across the hills,
There’s wine that belongs to no one
What can I tell you?
Should I tell you about all the lovely women I never had?
Should I tell you about the moon
Fading away like a piece of hard, round candy
I was afraid this would happen the way the night feels with no moon
The way the wind whistles off the back porch
Pushing on the screen door
Like ten cats, like ten mad men, fighting
Like ten mad men fighting
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7. |
Gypsy Woman
02:01
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Gypsy woman, no one can tame
Rippling waters, dancing leaves, no one can hold
There’s magic in the ways you unfold
I wonder how many trails you have set on fire
Your sweet toes breaking new ground
Gypsy woman, rippling waters,
Dancing leaves, no one can hold
There’s fire in your eyes, fire in your soul
I wonder how you are flowing,
Deep music, sweet sounds pounce, invites my soul to life
There’s kindness wisdom in your verse, and blessings in your touch
Visionary, simple and dynamic
Deep and organic
Real to the bone
Your found spirit, ageless and boundless and round
Gypsy woman, no one came tame
Fantasy free to roam land, air, and sea
If the moon flows and the wind blows
Your candy apple toes on warm sands haunts me,
And takes me to dreamland
Just love me for a moment
No strings or unholy things
Hold me like a bear in fall
(No strings or unholy things)
Me and your love, juicy like a peach
Hold me like a bear in heat
And I’ll be all a better for it
My heart is big and bold enough to absorb all the love
To break my heart is to heal my heart
(To break my heart is to heal my heart)
To break my heart over and over and engulf me in your dreams
Juicy like a peach
Gypsy woman, rippling waters, dancing leaves, no one can hold
There’s magic in your ways you unfold
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8. |
Love Poem
01:55
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The thought of not holding you for a moment
Or a thousand years could kill me
I cannot stand it, you being there
When my eyes can taste you
Not holding you for a moment
Or a thousand years could kill
I cannot stand it, you being there
When my eyes can taste you
Or a thousand years could
I cannot stand it, you being there
When my eyes can taste you
The thought of not holding you for a moment
Or a thousand years could kill me
I cannot stand it, you being there
When my eyes can taste you
The thought of not holding you for a moment
Or a thousand years could kill me
I cannot stand it, you being there
When my eyes can taste you
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9. |
Murder Poem
02:18
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Murder no game,
You can handle the fame, but can you handle the shame
The pain that never goes away
A dark endless cloud, never there
You think it’s some gangster fairytale
The godfather, cold killer, the king of hell
Swag comes from a well deep within
And not from a fake, or real kill
I don’t listen to hip-hop and its fake references to kill
Because murder being murder is no thrill
Some cold blooded killers who have never killed because
Swag comes from a well deep within
And not from a fake, or real kill
Don’t spit to your words like killing someone is just a dream
For some day you’ll wake up in prison or dead in a stream
No murder is hip or cool, you a damn fool
There’s no badge of honor
No good feeling to kill a mother, a brother, a sister, a father
The blood will never leave your hands and you’ll have bloody dreams
You cats preach murder, you confessed to murder you never done
You want to be hard, fake murderer, know real murder is not the way
Take it from a murderer who has been dead since that day
Mortality will set in one day and
Karma will wake you up
You can pay for a robbery
You can pay for stealing
You can pay for a beat down
You can pay for a burglary
But there is no way to fix any killing
You cannot pay for murder
And there is no healing
No bringing back your son, you daughter, your mother, your father
Murder is never okay, no matter how you spin it, or what you say
You may not feel it now, but you will, someday, some way
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10. |
Tumbleweed
02:12
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Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby
Just a tumbleweed baby
I know it seems cold, but for now
I’m just a tumbleweed baby, meant to roam
I could have stayed longer,
From sun to moon
And shared the last dance at the saloon
But I’m just a tumbleweed, staying for just a moment to drop seed at the oasis
And move on down the road
That is the desert code
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby
I tried to stay, to be stable, but I’m not able
And by nature I must roll and tumble down the road
I should miss you, and dream of you
Someday I’ll be back,
For the road is a mandala of love
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
But by nature the four winds unfold me
And leads where I must go
For now baby, I’m just a tumbleweed, standing just a moment, to drop seed
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby,
Just a tumbleweed baby, just a tumbleweed
Just a tumbleweed baby
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11. |
Touch and Go
01:49
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I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house
I want to cut more audio and do more radio
And see the New Orleans trees
I want to see the railroad tracks in Arkansas
That Maya Angelo still would not cross
It was touch and go, IV’ed out and needled out like being stung
Over and over again by healer bees
I dreamed about each of my brothers that have passed on
I saw angels and other cool beings
Colors of rainbows
It was touch and go
I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house
I want to see more of the world, and eat more good food
The illness kept my body still, shackled to the bed like a dog and steel pole
The illness kept my heart climbing up a hill
I told my brothers, I was not yet ready to cross over
Although it seemed like a delightful place
If I came only to visit, please don’t make a nest for me yet
I’ve only been from my mom’s house to the big house
And my love ones surrounded me like heavy clouds
Protecting the heart of my soul
And my love once circled me like magic, as I fly above and sway with the sea
The nights of illness, the nights of stillness,
The moon and sun heal me
The albatross, the Knight of Realness
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12. |
Empty Places
01:48
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At night the lights went out,
The whole world turned dark
Back to its original form
The sun rose,
Darkness was light
Light darkness
Airplanes crashed into each other
Trains had no eyes
People ran and hid
They dived out of hotel windows
They shot their neighbors
Their sons and daughters
Their husbands and wives
People thought everyone else
Was a thief who stole the light
Hell is the empty places between the head
Paradise is what was once when we were kids
Sometimes the world doesn’t care what we think
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13. |
Turning Point
02:26
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I’ll release the past because forgiveness springs forward
And hate falls back
I’ll never forget what I’ve done
But I cannot go back and peel back the sun
I released the past and push on the gas
And I’ll keep moving forward because the future will last
What’s done is done, and I cannot go back and peel back the sun
I’ll blaze a new trail, and I’ll never get derailed
Even if hope has no wind in its sails
I am not my worst act, nor will I forget the past for forgiveness springs forward
And hate falls back
I am not my worst act, nor will I forget the past,
And I must accept it and release it for only the future lasts
And I cannot go back and peel back the sun
No matter what I’ve done, I cannot keep running from the past
I’ll blaze a new trail, that an instant by change, peace, and love
I'll blaze a new trail, and never get derailed
Even when hope seems like a distant memory
Passing in the night
I cannot roll back time and make it right
I cannot roll back the clock and go back
Because the future is always forward, always in front of me
No matter what I’ve done, I cannot keep running from the past
I must accept it to release it
Because only the future lasts
And I must push on the gas
And keep moving forward
Because I am not my worst act
Nor will I forget the past
I must accept it and release it for only the future lasts
And I cannot go back
And peel back the sun
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14. |
Calla Lily
02:42
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Walking tonight, watching the plants,
Sharing moments in space with them
I looked inside a calla lily
Saw a fat, yellow stripe, black bumblebee,
Curled around the heart of the flower
She is sleeping
I didn’t know they slept in flowers
Didn’t know they slept at all
I wanted to awaken her
She’s a harvest moon inside a calla lily
I wanted to awaken her
But I didn’t
It wouldn’t be right
Besides as she sleeps in peace with the sky as her blanket
And cotton petals as her pillows
As she sleeps undisturbed
We are one
The little bee sits on the window sill
She is so lovely there with her big licorice black eyes
Orange candy cane stripes around her sweet robust bottom
She sits there with her angelic wings pinned against her body
She sits there in stillness frozen by a frigid world
Too cold and dark now for travel
I wonder, has she gathered too much honey to make home
She must be gathering warmth from the window light
She must be in love
She didn’t freeze, she’s moving her antennae to the beat of the morning
Soon she will fly away again to go home
Soon she will fly away again to gather honey
Soon she will fly away again to be with someone else
Soon she will fly away
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Spoon Jackson Barstow, California
Born into a family of 15 boys in Barstow CA, Spoon Jackson was sentenced to LWOP when he was 20.
Spoon discovered
himself as a writer at San Quentin; played Pozzo in the prison's production of Waiting for Godot; and has written and received awards for plays, poetry, fairy tales, short stories, essays, and a memoir during the 45+ years he has been behind bars.
No Moon is his first LP. Out 4/17/24.
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