Little Vee crying cause unlike mom and dad, the storybooks forgot her name.
Letting tears flow free weeping quick seeking mommy’s life wish she had the same.
Looking out ‘cross the world watching daddy do his work trying to repeat what she sees,
but can't help wondering then crying out loud "Papa don’t you have an arrow for me?"
Little Red, pseudonym, but nobody cares, cause that's how the storybook goes.
The world looking in, speculating, sporting, identity the color of her clothes.
if anybody bothered if the hood was pulled back, if they dodged the vocal gossip combat,
maybe raven black hair or golden blonde dreams, but no one wants to know about that.
So I try to,
turn the page, find subtext, re-write what the margins scream.
Look beyond, the surface words, cause they are not as they seem.
The girl in the hood and the daughter of love, a comparison may seem frail,
but they have stories and I have dreams, and both, are a fairytale.
Little me story time, mentally replacing, the hero’s name with my own.
Save the land, get the girl, share the wisdom I’ve been shown.
Bring it back to the world of boys and girls it was made for in the first place,
but don't forget the words that I scrawled in the empty margin space.
Little vee, little Red, little me, in my head, little life real-estate.
Little joys, little toys, little thoughts, little boys, simple minds create.
I’ll grow a year, or two or ten, but never cease to be,
a little boy crying out to daddy and mom: "but what about Red and Vee?”
Cause I wish I could,
Turn the page, find subtext, re-write what the margins scream.
Look beyond, the surface words, cause they are not as they seem.
The girl in the hood and the daughter of love, a comparison may seem frail,
but they have stories and I have dreams, and both, are a fairytale.
if I turned the page, found subtext, re-wrote what the margins scream.
Looked beyond the surface words, and found what I could glean:
a scribble in the words of the ending line, a new story to be staged,
Happily ever after only lasts till you turn the page.
Forged Artifacts announce the sophomore release, available on limited gold cassette, from lo-fi Portlander Alexei Shishkin. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 12, 2016