1. |
Anne, the Gardener
03:48
|
|||
Let out like a scream, you don’t fit with the scheme; an orange hawkweed
Among the blues and yellows, the bells and primrose that line the way home
Where you’re drawn, by-and-by, by invisible tie, a hand in the sky
You’ve been gritting your teeth until your release, and you stole truth like a thief
Sister, lay your burdens on the table
In a bundle of blooms let them grow
Twisting tendrils, oh tormentil your roots running over
To the edge; your wretched vetch stretching out, heading boldly
Down the table leg to flagstone bed
Your honest seeds are sown
Now like your own self before watch them climbing the walls
Build your trellis according to new rules
Try to train them in lines, prune the faith-strangling vines
“Come forwards”
Sister, grow your garden
Though your soil is pure and giving, your work’s never done
Every harebell you get ringing they hide from the sun
Every yellow rattle shaken, selfheal nettle-stung
But wear your foxgloves with that perfect love, don’t hold your adders-tongue:
“You tell us curl up, “dear creatures”, beside the fire at night
While you hedge this heaven’s pleasures to indulge your appetite
But here in the garden you must walk a straighter edge
You can really smell the roses if you cut back the excess
There’s an expansive future like the Scarborough sea
With all its hope and possibility
And dew from my sister gives my plants their Yorkshire tea
Untasted, unsalted, unkept inspiring me
And the breath of my sister to spread my sprouting seeds
“Taking our plans
In our own hands
Working the land”
|
||||
2. |
Emily, the Diver
04:00
|
|||
From depths returned, floated back to land
Face of fog and body of clay
Diamond dust, evaporee
A river cut deep, a path drawn straight
Seen from above, the line of fate
Face of fog and body of clay
The earth moves out of your way
Myth sees you ride a dark wave neath the moon
Dredging all worlds from the ancient salty blue
A bride-less train of eternity
Dragged in your wake across the cold country
But on a damp and still morning - ah!
Your shadow there cast crepuscular
And in the garden your rain falls far from the plain
Each mark met with arrow’s aim
Your currents strong, your clouds right wrung
A bay where floats your galleon
Quencher, oh drencher, lifegiver, life taker
Feed these roots, fill these boots, blot and cross the wallpaper
With port-wrenching power and starboard compassion
Love finds a lover but a storm soon comes thrashing
Then with mingled affection your steam-devil of a sister
Drives you to advection, that oft-brewin’ half-twister
And comes a creeping fog from her petting conquistar
Downward and townward to menace the vista
A low-lying, eye-widening solitary cloud
A galaxy unfocused unsettles the crowd
But you’re far from there; you are diving again
For no soul can be loosed in this world of men
Closer to home is closer to you
Closer still is the infinitely starry salty blue
Diving and grasping for hands outstretched
Take your place in the chain reaching down to the depths
|
||||
3. |
Charlotte, the Levitator
04:59
|
|||
A stillness she can’t bear,
This curling, swirling air
But she holds her breath and, from right to left,
Patrols the perimeter
Oh, a breeze breathes relief
She comes in, then what’s in is released
Soars to ceiling height, then from left to right
Spreads her secrets to each dew-soaked leaf
Decanter, thought-planter
Blow through the grass and speak at last
Set em flyin, dandelion
Come sing out loud, don’t whisper now
Navigator, levitator
Over mist prevail to fill that sail
Before you turn again, weathervane
Weeds to tumble and stalks to bend
Soil to crumble and breath to lend
Prithee pepperpot-shaker
Show your power, sea-shaper
Take us up, take us out, sky’s friend
Hair-tangler, cloud-wrangler,
It’s up to you when the sun breaks through
Take us higher, spread this fire
Through the great outside, be satisfied
Fog-lifter, seed-drifter
Your own heart as proof, tell the truth
Before you circle back on your corkscrew track
And with this tidy turn the wallflowers wince and waver
Flickering the lamplight, dropping the temperature
Throwing back the bushes like a tossed head of hair
Right to left - so bereft - blowing a cold, cold air
Refuter, uprooter!
“I gift to thee a dormancy”
Chastiser, capsizer!
“And evaporate this sinful strait”
Oh banshee, how can she!
“Watch me dim the Northern Lights”
Turn again, hurricane
The wind can but grasp at the hands of time
Wise-turner, late learner, all liberty thine
|
Nat Johnson Sheffield, UK
“A treat for fans of PJ Harvey and Alela Diane” – Subba Cultcha
"Let’s talk about Nat Johnson.
Sometimes people do, but not nearly loud enough or often enough, which is a shame, because she is as integral to the Sheffield scene as Kid Acne murals and Jarvis Cocker poems on the sides of buildings." - The Girls Are
... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Nat Johnson, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp