Self Evident
Ani Difranco

(inspired by the wtc disaster)

Yes,

Us people are just poems

We're 90% metaphor

With a leanness of meaning

Approaching hyper-distillation

And once upon a time

We were moonshine

Rushing down the throat of a giraffe

Yes, rushing down the long hallway

Despite what the P. A. Announcement says

Yes, rushing down the long stairs

With the whiskey of eternity

Fermented and distilled

To eighteen minutes

Burning down our throats

Down the hall

Down the stairs

In a building so tall

That it will always be there

Yes, it's part of a pair

There on the bow of Noah's ark

The most prestigious couple

Just kickin back parked

Against a perfectly blue sky

On a morning beatific

In it's Indian summer breeze

On the day that America

Fell to it's knees

After strutting around for a century

Without saying thank you

Or please

And the shock was subsonic

And the smoke was deafening

Between the setup and the punch line

Cuz we were all on time for work that day

We all boarded that plane for to fly

And then while the fires were raging

We all climbed up on the windowsill

And then we all held hands

And jumped into the sky

And every borough looked up when it heard the first blast

And then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed

And the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar

Looked more like war than anything I've seen so far

So far

So far

So fierce and ingenious

A poetic specter so far gone

That every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling

Over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on

And I'll tell you what, while we're at it

You can keep the pentagon

Keep the propaganda

Keep each and every tv

That's been trying to convince me

To participate

In some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution

Perpetuate retribution

Even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution

Is still hanging in the air

And there's ash on our shoes

And there's ash in our hair

And there's a fine silt on every mantle

From hell's kitchen to Brooklyn

And the streets are full of stories

Sudden twists and near misses

And soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters

With tales of narrowly averted disasters

And the whiskey is flowin

Like never before

As all over the country

Folks just shake their heads

And pour

So here's a toast to all the folks who live in Palestine

Afghanistan

Iraq

El Salvador

Here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation

Under the stone cold gaze of mt. Rushmore

Here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors

Who daily provide women with a choice

Who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City

Just to listen to a young woman's voice

Here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now

Awaiting the executioner's guillotine

Who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads

To find peace in the form of a dream

Cuz take away our playstations

And we are a third world nation

Under the thumb of some blue blood royal son

Who stole the oval office and that phony election

I mean

It don't take a weatherman

To look around and see the weather

Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks

And boy did he ever

And we hold these truths to be self evident:

#1 George W. Bush is not president

#2 America is not a true democracy

#3 the media is not fooling me

Cuz I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation

I've got no room for a lie so verbose

I'm looking out over my whole human family

And I'm raising my glass in a toast

Here's to our last drink of fossil fuels

Let us vow to get off of this sauce

Shoo away the swarms of commuter planes

And find that train ticket we lost

Cuz once upon a time the line followed the river

And peeked into all the backyards

And the laundry was waving

The graffiti was teasing us

From brick walls and bridges

We were rolling over ridges

Through valleys

Under stars

I dream of touring like Duke Ellington

In my own railroad car

I dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches

In a grand station aglow with grace

And then standing out on the platform

And feeling the air on my face

Give back the night it's distant whistle

Give the darkness back it's soul

Give the big oil companies the finger finally

And relearn how to rock-n-roll

Yes, the lessons are all around us and a change is waiting there

So it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets

And clear the air

Get our government to pull it's big dick out of the sand

Of someone else's desert

Put it back in it's pants

And quit the hypocritical chants of

Freedom forever

Cuz when one lone phone rang

In two thousand and one

At ten after nine

On nine one one

Which is the number we all called

When that lone phone rang right off the wall

Right off our desk and down the long hall

Down the long stairs

In a building so tall

That the whole world turned

Just to watch it fall

And while we're at it

Remember the first time around?

The bomb?

The Ryder truck?

The parking garage?

The princess that didn't even feel the pea?

Remember joking around in our apartment on avenue D?

Can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design

Following a fantastical reversal of the New York skyline?!

It was a joke, of course

It was a joke

At the time

And that was just a few years ago

So let the record show

That the fbi was all over that case

That the plot was obvious and in everybody's face

And scoping that scene

Religiously

The cia

Or is it kgb?

Committing countless crimes against humanity

With this kind of eventuality

As it's excuse

For abuse after expensive abuse

And it didn't have a clue

Look, another window to see through

Way up here

On the 104th floor

Look

Another key

Another door

10% literal

90% metaphor

3000 some poems disguised as people

On an almost too perfect day

Must be more than poems

In some asshole's passion play

So now it's your job

And it's my job

To make it that way

To make sure they didn't die in vain

Sshhhhhh....

Baby listen

Hear the train?

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Lyrics by Ani Difranco

'Tis of Thee 1,000,000 2nd Intermission 32 Flavors 32 Flavors [Live][*] 4th of July 78% H20 78% H2O A Spade ¿Which Side Are You On? ¿Which Side Are You On? Adam and Eve Aids Ain't That The Way Akimbo Albacore Alla This Allergic to Water Amazing Grace Amendment Angel Food Angry Any More Angry Any. Angry Anymore Animal Anticipate Anyday As Is Asked You First Asked You First (live) Asking Too Much Astronaut (feat. Radiohead) Astronaut (Ft Radiohead) Back Around Back Back Back Beautiful Night Bliss Like This Blood in the Boardroom Bodily Born a Lion Both Hands Both Hands (Live In Austin, Texas) Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas] Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas] Both Hands [New Version] Brief Bus Stop Brief Bus Stop [*] Bubble Building And Bridges Buildings & Bridges Buildings and Bridges Callous Carry You Around Christians & Pegans Christians and Pagans Circe of Light Circle of Light Cloud Blood Cloud Blood? Cold & Mean Cold And Mean Cold And Mean (Answering Machine) Come Away Come Away From It Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover) Coming Up Company Cradle & All Cradle & All Cradle & All Cradle and All Cradle And All (Live) Crime for Crime Decree Deep Dish Dilate Diner Distracted Dithering Do Re Me Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover) Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover) Dog Coffee Don't Nobody Know Done Wrong Educated G. Educated Guess Egos Like Hairdos Egos Like Hairdos (Live) Emancipated Emancipated Minor Everest Every Angle Every State Line Evolve Evolve - Album: Evolve Face up & Sing Face Up And Sing Fair Weather Falling Is Like This Feakshow Fierce Flawless Find A Fire Fire Door Fixing Her Hair Flood Waters Forest For the Trees Freakshow Fuel Fuel (spoken Word) Garden Of Simple Glass House God's Country Going Down Going Once Good Luck Good, Bad, Ugly Grand Canyon Gratitude Gravel Grey Half-Assed Handsome Musician Happy All the Time Harder Than It Needs To Be Harvest Hat Shaped Hat Hear The Train Hearse Heart Break Even Heartbreak Even Hell Yeah Hello Birmingham Here for Now Here For Now - Album: Evolve Hide & Seek (is The Zygote Song!!) Hide & Seek Hide And Seek Hide Seek Hour Follows Hour How Have You Been How Long Can It Last Hurricane Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover) Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover) Hypnotized I Know This Bar I'm No Heroine Icarus Icarus - Album: Evolve If He Tries Anything If It Isn't Her If Yr Not Imagine That Imperfectly In Here In or Out In The Margins In the Margins In the Way In The Way - Album: Evolve Independence Day Itch J Joyful Girl Joyful Girl (Danger And Uncertainty Mix) Joyful Girl (Live With The Buffalo Philharmonic) Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Extended Mix) Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Mix) Joyful Girl [Live] Joyful Girl [Live] Jukebox Kazoointoit Know Now Then Knuckle Down Lag Time Landing Gear Letter to a John Letting the Telephone Ring Letting the Telephone Ring [*] Life Boat Light of Some Kind Little Plastic Castle Looking for the Holes Loom Lost Woman Song Lullaby Make Me Stay Make Them Apologize Manhole Mariachi Mariachi Marrow Millennium Theater Minerva Modulation Most Of The Time Most Of The Time (accompanied On Violin By Cregan ... My I Q My I.Q. My IQ My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage Names & Dates Names & Dates Names and Dates and Times Napoleon Napoleon [New Version] Napoleon [New Version] Nicotine No Reason To Come Home North Main Street Not a Pretty Girl Not Angry Anymore Not So Soft O My My O My My - Album: Evolve O. K. O.K. Oh My My Old Old Song On Every Corner One More Night One Times One Times One Origami Origami - Educated Guess Album Out of Habit Out of Range Out Of Range (electric Version) Out of Range (Electric) Out of Range [Acoustic] Out of Range [Electric] Outa Me, Onto You Outta Me, Onto You Overlap Overlap [New Version] Overlap [New Version] Pale Purple Paradigm Parameters Perfect Fingers Phase Phase - Album: Evolve Pick Yer Nose Pixie Pixie (Be Nice) Platforms Present Infant Present/Infant Prison Prism Promiscuity Promised Land Promised Land - Album: Evolve Providence Pulse Rain check Raincheck Rainy Parade Reckoning Recoil Red Letter Year Reprieve Reprise Revelling Rock Paper Scissors Rockabye Roll With It Round A Pole Rush Hour School Night Second Intermission Second Intermission - Album: Evolve See See See See Seeing Eye Dog Serpentine Serpentine - Album: Evolve Served Faithfully Shameless Shameless (Bathtub Mix) Shameless [New Version] Shameless [New Version] She Says Shroud Shroud Shrug Shrug - Album: Evolve Shy Sick Of Me Silver Ingrid Sistersong Slide Slide - Album: Evolve Small World Smiling Underneath So What Soft Shoulder Sorry I Am Splinter Star Matter Still My Heart Studying Stones Subconscious Subdivision Submerged Subway Sunday Morning Superhero Swan Dive Swandive Swim Swim - Album Educated Guess Swing Swing (Radio Set) Swing [Album Version] Swing [Radio Set] Talk To Me Now Tamburitza Lingua That Was My Love The Arrivals Gate The Atom The Boys In Blue The Diner The Internationale The Million You Never Made The Million You Never Made [#] The Next Big Thing The Slant The Story The True Story Of What Was The Waiting Song The Whole Night This Bouqet This Bouquet This Box Contains... This Box Contains... Tip Toe (outtakes) Tiptoe To Be Free To the Teeth To the Teeth [Shoot-Out Remix] Tr’w Travel Tips Trickle Down True Story Of What Was Two Little Girls Unforgettable Unrequited Untouchable Face Unworry Up Up Up Up Up Up Used Cars Used to You Virtue Waiting For Susan Way Tight Welcome To Welcome to : Welcome To: Welcome To: - Album: Evolve What How When Where What How When Where (Why Who) What If No One's Watching Whatall Is Nice Whatever When Doves Cry When Doves Cry (Prince cover) When I'm Gone Wherever Which Side Are You On Which Side Are You On? Willing to Fight Wish I May Wishin' & Hopin' Wishin' And Hopin' Woe Be Gone Work Your Way Out Worthy Wrong With Me Yeah Yr Right You Each Time You Had Time Your House Your Next Bold Move Your Next Bold Move [New Version] Your Next Bold Move [New Version] Zoo

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