Lou-Jean

Damien Jurado

Here in Rodriguez
The warm is a lover
A hand full of rainfall
A kiss from a stranger
Who shouts from the terrace
"You're all still in danger!
I was once you
Only here
Only younger"

I gave up my laughter
To pay off my ransom
As I strolled into diners
With skies of fluorescent
Married to pay phones
And numbers in stalls
My name is your husbands
His name a last call

Here in Apache
I sat in the front seat
Convincing the crosswords
To lay here in lowercase
Stop lighting fashion
And you in your overcoat
Talking of movies
And families not seen before
I was kept quiet
In the back of a trailer
Holding the tapes
Of songs never heard
Coughing up desert
He smiled then assured me
"All is not lost only hidden till later"

Here in Elaina
The skies are a firework show
No ticket is needed to enter here
Two step your way down
The street I first met you on
You and your radio
Me and my grand-mama
Dressed in her turquoise
And me with Loraine
Walking like ghosts in the frame
Blurring the photos
You shouted "forget it!"
All is not lost
If you stand still and wait for it

Night time Laredo
The stars are a stanza
The parking lot poems
I scrawled onto paper bags
This will go nowhere
Addressing the atmosphere
I was a nobody
Talking to tape machines
Recording the T.V.
And the sound of my voice
Playing it back at half speed
Pulling the bed sheets
And frames from the walls
Searching for peace
That was mine all along