Sit by my lullaby
Before we have to go
Before the lights come on


You're brave and it makes me braver
A saviour
A clash waiting to happen



Saint Francis of Assisi was loved by all creatures
He retired two houses down from me
His Franciscan robe folded in two

Would you sit by my lullaby like you used to?



Forget that we have run out of time
I just arrived

Do me while I'm singing to you
Do me while I'm playing my guitar


And let me play you like you want to be played

Sit by my lullaby
Before we have to go
Before the lights come on

May 1, 2020

Beelines and Relics, that's what I'll make.
The Devil makes use of idle hands...

Two days ago, this corona virus thing, looked like a good relaxing world reprieve. A much needed slowing down.
But just like the construction builders who have worked throughout, that come in for coffee in the mornings, I wouldn't just relax and let it all slide.

I was on the phone to my mother the other month. "It's *******," I said. "When have they ever cared so much?"
And in Tesco the other day, a growing disbelief, a cynicism. "They can just mark in a car accident as a corona death," I overheard a guy saying to the clerk. "It's true," I chirped in.

Walking along the street today, masks everywhere. Signs up, billboards, ATM machines, corona virus this, corona virus that. Social distancing. NHS heroes.

I think now we are heading into a new form of control. Biological control. I was talking to Stef the other month, and he had the notion that in the future, people would need to have the appropriate vaccinations before they could get on a plane. Totally forseeable.

We, the human populace, the animal, biological component. Easily docile, easily, easily controlled.

The big guns may hit us yet.

Melbourne to London
Taking the flight again
For singing and songs
And to see where life takes me


The first time I did this flight
Would have been when I was a child
My twin sisters still babies
My parents setting up our lives in Australia
Finding work as nurses

I remember the simple housing
Playing army figurines with my mother on the old carpet
And the Golden retriever who jumped the fence and played with dad



Melbourne to London
Taking the flight again
For singing and songs
And to see where life takes me



School and growing up was hard
There was always a bit of turmoil and fighting in the house
Dad got me a bass
Chris got me a guitar
I sang because I needed it

I never finished university
I wanted to play in bands

I met people who were my friends
But there were some jealousies
I kept on in a rage
Pride and self respect wouldn't come till later in life



Melbourne to London
Taking the flight again
For singing and songs
And to see where life takes me



Where I grew up is beautiful
The surrounding bush
The way my mum keeps the garden
Full of flowers, kumquat and apple trees
It's a paradise I don't want to leave
I don't want her to leave

My sisters are young beautiful mother's now
The cutest kids with a head start in life
I'm largely silent around them
My guitar stays in it's case
I still need to find my place
I still want to surprise everyone as Uncle James



Wide expanses, yellow fields in the sun
Across the ocean
Time differences
To smaller plots of land
And the spill of industry
I've come here to make the puzzle of my life fit together
With a belief I've always had in myself
That only used to be an idea

It's a parade
Wobbly heat waves
Children and colours
Canteen food
And the snapping sounds of foldable plastic chairs

Little athletics day
Here he comes
Handkerchief on his head, tucked into his sunglasses

Mum never came

He could be harsh
My sister cried once
There was pressure to win
I never did
I was afraid I'd be clotheslined by that finishing line
Be my guest Flash
I wasn't fast, but I wasn't slow


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)


I asked for your help
Speaking to that place in my mind that doesn't change

You gave me every weapon for this world
And I still don't know what to do

I wasn't at the funeral
I was far away, making myself out of sand at high tide

Thank you for everything
The way they remembered you, how you made peace come true, I never knew, or maybe I did


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)




It was really blooming when you left
The police man and his bunny were making fun of your emotions by then
Playing substitute friends
There was something biting that wouldn't stop

But you were appreciated by us
And still are
So many memories


This is me
Relay leg no.3
Baton in my hand
Whistling thru the air
(Missing you, missing me)
Round the bend
Furthest from the crowd
Running thru heat waves
Angling like a fish, oh yeah
(Missing you, missing me)

Move like the black river
In the moonlight
Looked at by people on the bridge
silent, steady, courageous
Almost frightening

My name around the house is Mr. mushroom

Cause I’m always cooking mushrooms

Salt and pepper mushrooms

Squealing in a pan

You’re vegan and you don’t like mushrooms?

I don’t understand


Looking like a lizard, chewing on stringy hallucinogens

Or classy and tall floating in your soup

Or rich like truffles

Or frilly like flowers that kiss each other


Growing in bark, growing on trees

Growing in fields with no strawberries.

I met a mushroom picker one time, real nice guy

Was his trade, did it all day.

Squealing in a pan

My sister said when it comes to cooking mushrooms, I’m the man.

Don’t get all imaginative on me, and start breading and crumbing

Just doesn’t do.

Just the nice robust standard cups, at your local super market,  or sometimes those portabellos

Get them sweating like scalps in the heat!

Torture them with black pepper, fingernails on blackboards!

Then sunburn them in sea salt, crisping around the eyes like a vagabond child

Don’t let ‘em escape!

Mushrooms clouds, over the reef, think about them in your sleep.

Serve with rice or toast with a coffee or tea,

It’s Mushrooms for me.

My biggest regret

It wasn't paying for ***
The shame and disappointment

It wasn't hurting myself as a teenager
Causing pain, leaving unsightly scars

It wasn't staying drunk and or high
For a decade or more

It wasn't alienating myself
From everyone

It was that time at the shopping centre
When I said I'd be there to catch you
And I watched my sister close her eyes
And fall backwards
While I laughed as she hit the floor

I'm trying to fix that
That important leak in my person
I'd concrete the world's surface if I had to

This is the first day
This is the Monday  
Of my love, my love, my love
Of my love, my love, my love

Signs that meant a little
And signs that meant a lot

Turn them into everything, everything I got

We chased the night
Chased him down
Made a ceremony
In a room in a town

Signs that meant a little
And signs that meant a lot

Turn them into everything, everything I got

Outside, the emergency services are calling in the morning light
And no story of love of heartbreak I can recite
I can turn around, another day
But that wouldn't feel right

This is the first day
This is the Monday  
Of my love, my love, my love
Of my love, my love, my love
Of my love, my love, my love
Of my love, my love, my love

Shadow heart
My shadow is as big as the skies at night
Looking and searching
And it’s coming up more
Understanding
But I don’t think this one can be probed with too much light
Just love
And maybe song

I can go anywhere
When Nancy is walking with me
I can walk thru any door
And my eyes don’t look at the floor

When we are dancing
Perfect beelines in the sunlight
We travel far
We travel time



She came from the sea of songs
And all the letters, that were birds with feathers
I was astonished
At how long they had been going


She walked barefoot on the beach
Before it got dark
And it never did
All these things she tells me with her heart




I can go anywhere
When Nancy is walking with me
I can walk thru any door
And my eyes don’t look at the floor

When we are dancing
Perfect beelines in the sunlight
We travel far
We travel time






She took my hand and said let’s go
All the smoke and mirrors
All my doubt
It disappeared

I said Nancy
Don’t be away from me
I’m no good when you’re not around

I played my guitar
My body lifted off the ground
And all these things I said to her with my heart

Nature, nature, human nature

I scrolled down my news feed
There was a play of hate
The warring
Never ceased

It hits home
As it always does
You listen to the sounds of children playing in the pool
Watch them walking to school

And you think
What have I done with my hands and feet
In this great machine
Substituting someone
Close to me

Nature, nature, human nature
Tell me something about peace
Tell me something new
I haven't moved for a thousand years

The rivers are full of tears
I feel so lost
The God's are arguing in the sky
So loud
They can't hear me cry

Nature, nature, human nature
Tell me about yourself
Tell me about harmony
Tenderness and care
Because I can't find them written down anywhere

Nature, nature, human nature
Bring us together
From the day until night
Take me in your arms
Wake me up and put me to sleep

Nature, nature, human nature
I know you are there
I know you are everywhere
Is there a chord I can play
So that you can hear me?

This is a "next time thing"
Said one river to the next
Rivulets of sun and paranoia
Playing on their surfaces

Parting with a hug
And so ran one with trust
As before, and not more,
In itself

I am so confused
What is the point of all this?
Me and you?
I used to know truth.

There is so much horror
And beauty too
Full of people, doing what they have to do
Like me and you

The birds at softest sunset
Sound bittersweet

I'm travelling thru
On a Nightflight blue


Under it
All the mistakes I've made
The suffering
It's there
The truth that keeps the world turning

I don't live in the world of changing absolutes
Of hard lines
Mine is a feeling
A feeling far and wide

In the morning I know you'll come true

I'm travelling thru
On a Nightflight blue

Hot day, cooling down
Cold shower
Chill

Wordless, the cooking's all done
Rested
Good to be sitting
Curtains partially open
Shadowy lighted room
Clouds behind curtains
It's like what siesta time would be
A time for talking, no
A time where no talking is ok
The peaceful coming of day's end
Mum's quietly moving around the cupboards in the kitchen
The hard-drive is humming away
A car just drive down the court
My feet warm against the touch of wood
No disruptions

Everytime I see her
While I'm working
She makes me angry
She triggers my rage

Her homeless hair
Crackhead eyes and skin
Her cracked teeth
That demand shout and beg

I saw her on a cold night
Walking about
It was something like 2 am
Most women, if not everyone
Wouldn't be out at that hour, alone
She must think she has nothing
Nothing to keep safe
Nothing to take
Nothing
Nothing

October is my mood

I have dreams
I have the rising sun in my chest
I want the right kind of lazy
I want to sing while I’m smiling

October is my mood

I can’t be stopped
I don’t know where I get it from
But it’s an endless resource
I was the last to leave again

October is my mood

Maybe it was during the 90’s
Tragic rockstars
My mother and father
Not speaking, but not leaving

October is my mood

I will walk up to the 31st
Stand on it’s cliff edge
And jump off with every awake-fullness possible
Into December

October is my mood

So many oddballs and odd-bits in this city
Sworn to secrecy
Torn out single pages
Littering the streets
Something in common

They are everywhere
Did you see what I just saw?
Where will we all go?
Peddling alone on our bikes
Thru the streets
Passed the houses
To our rooms

You could catch us for a second
Looking all stupid
But you’d never get us really
Don’t be stupid

So many oddballs and odd-bits in this city

We heard you got out
We heard you got free
In your overall jeans
So suddenly

Above the wall that stood so high
And the barbed wire that cried and cried

Like a kite, like a plane
That feeling, they can't take away

We heard you got out
We heard you got free
In your overall jeans
So suddenly

The world will look to Australia one day
That Antipodean dream
Will be bigger than it's ever seemed

With a first nations Prime Minister
To lead the way
With a new view
For a new day

Hear what I say
The world will look to Australia one day
When she grows into her own
One day, one day

A new anthem
Deep and rich
With a breath of spirit
For all our living souls

The world will listen to her speak
A new language
That will go straight to your heart
Giving you life
Turning your world upside down

Hear what I say
The world will look to Australia one day
When she grows into her own
One day, one day

I'll run the day down
The one day that separates life and death

I'll chase the sun across the sky
And smoke all the stars in my pipe

It's one day
That separates life and death

One Day

One Day

One Day

On her arm is written
"A longing for home"
In her native tongue
Like an amber coloured sun

But she has big soft eyes
And everything else
And big lips I've got to kiss

One night, tonight
In a road of many nights
How many?
We don't know

So let's smile and touch
Warm and close
Hot and most

She lets it all hang out
Throwing her hair everywhere
There's no time to lose
No time to waste

The amber coloured sun
Watching over us, having fun
That longing for home
Ready as the air when you wake up
On the minds of everyone

We converse with complete strangers
To say the things we don't
To our families

One day
I won't be here to play this guitar
The rain I will no longer hear
The people I love will have come and gone

The churches
The tribes
The great tomes of mankind
Can't tell me where

And there will be a hole in my heart
There will be a hole in yours

There's a pink elephant
Walking across the continents
He's bigger than the sun
And all the stars that peer like newborn children

He's got places he likes to visit
Places he likes to drink and eat

Songs he likes to sing
And people he likes to meet

I look at him
His trunk like a question mark
He is there at every breath
Walking across the continent
Visible thru every window

I have a poisoned heart
It giggles it doesn't laugh
And it wants and wants

I want to put it into a song
Have it heard a million times over

What will the census
And the bureau of statistics say?

About the poison of a poisoned heart.


I want to make it
I want to make it better
I want to be selfless, not selfish
In the light, not it the dark
It's just an idea
For an antidote
Solvents into liquid


I have a poisoned heart
I saw it's shadow in the landing
My hair was clogging up the sink
My father was studying by candlelight
Younger than me, listening to the wind

I met a girl who reads poems
Maybe I can show her what I've written here

About the poison of a poisoned heart.


I want to make it
I want to make it better
I want to be selfless, not selfish
In the light, not it the dark
It's just an idea
For an antidote
Solvents into liquid

Don’t let me watch you stumble home
Wide eyed
Because you were just so beautiful
Without me to hold you tight

I couldn’t take my eyes off you
In fact I had to stop myself

Do we all dream of something special
To happen
one of these nights
maybe later
Who knows?
When you least expect it?

If my admiration makes it easier
I love the way you look in that dress
The way you were dancing
Moving
Being there

Don’t let me watch you stumble away
Cos I’d be the one to blame

If I didn’t say
In some way
You’re beautiful
And special tonight
I want to kiss and hold you tight

What is right?
What is wrong?
Are the words to this song

What is good?
What is bad?

The kite flies up
The reels spin out
They go and don’t come back
Or they haven’t yet

The Prayer leaf flies
Where does it go?
What is there to hold onto?
Nobody knows

It will run like horses in the clouds
With heavy thunder on the ground
Or it will disappear
While it’s here

What magic do we play with?
Spinning like dreams
The gathering leaves
Going round and round

There is the sad and senseless
There is heavenly matrimony

There is the world of doubt
And what’s it about?

Get what you want
I say to myself now

There’s a lump in my throat
I still have to do something about

Prayer Leaf
Tell me about you
Tell me what you want
Tell me as much as you can

I am standing in your sunshine
And no I don’t want to say goodbye
Today I saw a man crying and so was I
For the death, for the death of sunshine

So how we gonna do this properly
So how we gonna we??
Thru the streets, thru the countries
Thru the mountains over the seas

Really how are we gonna do this properly

Properly, properly, properly

You know what I’m talking about
I know you know what I’m talking about


I am a man standing in your sunshine
And no I don’t want to say goodbye
In fact I want to say it’s time
It’s time
It’s time
It’s time

To do this properly

I was born on a Sunday,
But this happened on a Thursday

I was looking for words
So I went for a walk
Down to the corner

Tonight there would be songs
So I said I’d join

She spoke soft
Quiet
I was an orange amongst the apple trees

She wore camo pants
And you wouldn’t understand
Until she got up and sang

No-ones fool
She was a rebel with a cause
A rebel with a mind
The words to my Revolution song

She was only 17
She put her little hand in mine


We’ve been chasing those
Quiet wells

The mighty ones
The evergreen ones

With our searchlights
Lights that want to push walls with outstretched hands

It’s been a global fight, from inside
From the dawn and well into the night

Looking for peace, for god, for answers, reflections
For things that can’t be denied

So don’t even try


She wore camo pants
And you wouldn’t understand
Until she got up and sang

She was a rebel with a cause
A rebel with a mind
She was the words to my Revolution song

She was only 17
She put her little hand in mine

I was born on a Sunday,
But his happened on a Thursday

Scatter light
Scatter mind

I've been scattered
Just as dust in the light
Unfocused

Refresh me with your magic

I'm done
I know it

I've joined with the dead roads
And dreamless lights
I'm no-where

We've all been stamped
We've all been made the fool
Destroyed
Half-eaten
But we're here
I'm here

Refresh me with your magic

This empty vase
I guard it with my life
And to be honest
It's all I have

Where are the flowers now?

Refresh me with your magic

We made a line for you, mindful of our step
Up the perilous *****
While the sun made a line across the stone
And the lines of corn, like braids in the mountain, rustled under a blue sky
Moving slow against the compass

I woke up this morning feeling low down and *****
Like I don't deserve a thing

I woke up thinking about karma and love equations
And what would I deserve?

You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


I think about that beautiful smile
That exists just because

And I look at my hands that grab at the air
Like they always have

You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


In singing and songs and guitars with chords
I have a generosity

And I want everyone to know that I've always cared
That it's always there


You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window


I once said I didn't want to come first
Because I was afraid I'd be clotheslined by the finishing line

If that's where the giving starts and the taking ends
I'll run around like a headless chicken


You could say it was selfish
You could say it wasn't true

But I want to shine like the sun
And chirp like the birds outside my window

I want some honesty, some success
I see pictures of a girl who smiled at me 20 years ago
She looks like success
Did I get lost?
Trying to make it?
I feel I haven't sung before,
Never written a song
Never played guitar
I feel like all the things that have put me together
Have just fallen like a stack of sticks

Everyone looks so successful around me
Cars and babies, books and music recordings

I just prayed for help
I could run around the city
Just one more time

When will I land?
I thought life got easier
The steam train of my mind
Is running hot

I must be like a box of fireworks
There's only so much preparation you can do
Before you explode

Round and round I go

I'm getting my life together

Almost cruising after the bumpy road

Tomorrow I don't know



Sometimes I think I can't do it

A feeling of helplessness

But I see thru it


I'm calmer or smarter these days

But I can't be sure

And the last few nights I've dreamt of fighting and women

Soft, loud


So even my dreams are noisy and restless

As I try to focus

To see it thru



I'm finally able, able as I'll ever be, consistently

My imagination is for these days

Her name was Serenity
She's a recurring theme
She drew everyone's attention
Because she walked around completely naked


I saw her first at university
Studying poetry

Then around the people and the music
The warehouses and the art



I saw her in the red light district too
Like me, she must have been two people too

She must have worked her way up, it seemed
And didn't have to take her clothes off
She was all clad in black
We said hello, making eye contact



Her name was Serenity
She's a recurring theme


I saw her at a festival, we kissed and she showed me things for free
It was like a bad dream





Her name was Serenity
She's a recurring theme

And there she is again
Smiling, she's in a good place
And I'm here too
Who was it? Who did that to us?
It was anybody's game

Like all artistic hearts, we felt that responsibility


Her name was Serenity
She's a recurring theme

This new shell
I've made, made as big as the world

It feels hollow inside
I try to fill it up with words, songs
And pictures

It shines, gets bigger everytime

Where will I take it?

She’s made only for love
She’s into horses
She has a unicorn tattooed on her arm
She’s the prettiest
And soft spoken

She says it’s her dream to go to Australia
Where I’m from
How long are you going to stay here? She asked
She had dreams to live on?

I’m going to kiss her hand before I go
I said to myself
And the women are smiling at me
With her around
Even Maya Angelou
On the cover
Know’s what it’s about

I invited her to the show
Let’s see, you never know.
I’m a unicorn
Maybe she knows

A house on Kinglake
Overlooking the city
Horses in the paddock
And once a year,
A festival
Under the stars
People to meet, people to know

One thing's for sure
She’s made only for love
And I kissed her hand
Before I had to go

Shipwrecks
And Shipwrecks
Within Shipwrecks

Everything was everywhere
It all passed thru my
Eye
My retina unflinching

But where was the water?
That made each the same
And apart
And put the ship back together again?

Is there a place
Where strangers become friends?
Where eyes look innocent again?
I think we could start from there

It scared me how far it had gone...
How important it is to be brave today
To have a light in the dark

How bright it has become

In amongst the Shipwrecks
And Shipwrecks
Within Shipwrecks

I think I get it now
I remember when I was so sad
Sitting up slowly in bed
And she saw me from the door
She ran over
And saddled me smiling

And I was sitting up slowly
Again
The same way
When I was watching
My workmate
And the way old Tom talked to her
And she was watching me
She was sitting up slowly in bed too

Thankyou Tom in a way
Thankyou for letting us see each other
We
Who sit up slowly in bed

Slow Moon
Distant pull
I'm thinking about you
As I levitate
Slowly

I want to stay with you
The cracks
Are showing thru
Silently I howl
for you

I feel there is nothing you wouldn't do
No time you couldn't see thru
The ocean stretches on its shores
And the lands rise to become mountains of you

Slow moon
Whistles a tune
Deep and true
And the earth
turns calm
wonderful
subdued

Smile you beautiful thing

Don’t beat it up, don’t make it black and blue
There’s a house to build
And it needs you

There’s sunshine thru your room
It makes for a glorious mood
The world feels
Soft and new


Here’s a song for the fishes the trees and skies
And smiles everywhere
A new cool
And old school
Sunshine thru your room
And distant traffic


Sunshine thru your soul
Squares on the wall that don’t move
Diving shapes
Floating dust
Have you ever watched the sunshine through your room?

Walking up the hill with Amy
The party has finished
It’s a small town
So not many people are around

Over the bridge with the steam train
And the hill is steep
You can hear it when it’s there
And when it isn’t

O.K. up we go
Choo-choo under the stars
Muscle to hold up the cliffs
Against the ocean
And the small houses

What are you doing here?
I just want to feel you there
This is everywhere
This is who we have come to see
Dancing and disappearing before our eyes

Say something

Stefanie's Guitar
Breaks off in a million shards
Its sound like a star
All angles of possibility
All directions
Light refracts, explodes, appears just to disappear
Beyond Stefanie's Guitar

It was the mystery of sadness
And the way it had made us
As it played against the day
That made me realise
I had come a long way

And still

I watched without seeing
And kissed without kissing

My sister had made the world over
And they wrote mythologies about my brother
But this wasn't their story

I fell down so easily
Like a wall made of cheap material
That all I could do was give it up
Let go
Surrender
Surrender

It's a mystery
Of who painted those elephants
In Technicolour
Young and old

Let the mystery live on
Alive as it is now

Who did it?
Asked the young lady
Whose painting tattoos my skin
Shining a light over my dying mind

Till death do us part
Let the mystery live on

God
I know you provide in this life of mine
This path

I don't know if you're name's Abraham
Whether you're black white green yellow or blue
But it's true

**** said, not everything you want
But what you need

I believe

Thankyou

Thankyou for my life too

With a torchlight in her hand
She's coming to set fire to this land

The streets and shop signs
Are lying naked and cool tonight

The world is dancing
Moving slow
I just know

The defective machine
Pondered the high beams
Of the building that stood
Thru years of heavy rain and shine

It still breathed and felt
And had care for
Everything that was there

Was there a part in you
Defective too?
I'm not talking about the endless
Madness of mankind
Or maybe I am

But when I shine a light thru
This stencil, what pattern comes up?
It's important that I shine
I may be a defective machine, but even if it
Is only for me to see, to feel, to inhibit

The cogs of time and eternity turn together
But not simultaneously
Endless resources are at my disposal
Networks of underground cables

Signing off
Etching the rock

The First Stone
Makes no sound
When it floats in the air
With Love

A flower is bright because it is
The morning sky says good morning in blue and orange because it does
The afternoon light slants thru the window because it does
The half moon rises above the roof because it does
The moonlight stretches across the floor because it does
And music sings because it does

I open my mouth wide
And there are things that are long finished
They are taking up space
They are taking up today

But the flower is still bright
Bright as a sailing flag
And the morning sky says good morning
The afternoon light slants thru the window
The half moon rises above the roof
The moonlight stretches across the floor
And music sings because it does

The water on the river shimmers because it does
The coral in ocean blooms because it does
The bird in the sky turns circles because he does
The trees stand and breath because they do
The rain falls because she does
And music sings because it does

The great wall diminishes
I can walk over it
With my head in the clouds
And the door stays wide open
Because it does

Each day a year

Away from you

The love that brought me back



Outsaw me

Ran me out

Gave to me

More than I could myself



It's snowing this morning

Primavera is on my lips

The new day

And magic


I'm laughing

Creeping across the dark

I'm forever grateful

Now I can see


Each day a year

Away from you

The love that brought me back



Outsaw me

Ran me out

Gave to me

More than I could myself