Roses in November

Fall is showing up much later this year
Roses blooming in November
I picked tomatoes from the garden last week
Another unseasonable season

Peppers red and hot and dropping to the ground
I’ve got a fall crop of zucchini
And it’s still too soon to rake the autumn leaves
Another unseasonable season

Did you notice that the hurricanes are fiercer
Tornadoes tearing up and ripping our towns
But let’s go driving through the countryside
Gas is much cheaper these days

I bought some apples, not a blemish to be found
Though the limes are hard and thready
Doesn’t the rice seem more expensive than before
Another unseasonable season

Did you notice that we had more rain
Though other states are deep in drought
Still let’s go driving through the countryside
Gas is much cheaper these days

Should we go out and buy a brand new truck
Hell the rates are really low
We could drive across the state so fast
Out run the storm that’s ‘bout to blow

first chorus, first verse

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Lessons From Home Plate

My Dad, he was so cool
The first in the family to high school
He’d never rest til he aced each test
But baseball was the golden rule

My father loved the game
A big town hero with small town fame
He’d block the plate, seal the runner’s fate
Baseball was his middle name

Keep your eye on the ball
Keep your feet firmly planted
Take that swing when the pitch feels right
Trust your instincts, trust your truth
Hit that ball just like Babe Ruth
My father taught us lessons from home plate

My dad was always neat
And his temperament was soft and sweet
A boy well groomed, the girls would swoon
His dapper ways and dancing feet

Out in the Chevrolet
Off to the dance, the band would play
He’s spin and twirl those pretty girls
He’d dance the swing til the light of day

Keep your ear to the beat
Keep your feet firmly planted
Take that dance when the song feels right
Trust your instincts, trust the air
Swing that date like Fred Astaire
My father taught us lessons from home plate

His golf game is still fine
6 holes in one since he’s gone blind
18 holes, 98 years old
Sound of body, sound of mind

Keep your eye on the ball
Keep your feet firmly planted
Take that swing when the wind feels right
Trust your instincts, trust your creed
Hit that ball like old Sam Snead
My father taught us lessons from home plate

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Edith Rivera

It’s quitting time for Edith Rivera
She’s serving one last Mexican meal
Then heading down the dusty farm road
The pedal and the wheel

No legal status in this country
Though she’s lived here 18 years
No driver’s license in her wallet
Just expired hopes and fear

Chorus:
Not afraid of the man in the red tie
Or the county sheriff’s quest
This rapidly diverse farm town
No longer a place of rest
Not afraid to be pulled over
Or how she still will cope
Some politicians call it self-deportation
She calls it her only hope

Driving down to meet her son
Stephen’s in the 7th grade
He’s only once been to Veracruz
American born and raised

Her husband has already gone
Deported two thousand and fifteen
So she sells off what the family has built
The furniture and machines

This country’s freckled with Ediths and Hamptons
And immigrants who build the town squares
Transforming businesses, working the fields
But now they’re all running scared

Though wretched poverty awaits her
There’s nothing here she can call home
Edith scrolls through her memories
Like pictures on her phone

Now they board their Mexican flight
“Algun dia”, she says, “someday”
The Delta agent asks “do you have a return”
She says, “no return, just one way.

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Unemployment Blues

Stopped in the unemployment office
Picked up a form
Never answered questions like this
As long as I’ve been born
Always worked at music
Or as a sound engineer
This simply job application is
Everything I fear

Chorus:
‘Cause I know my name
Know where I’m from
But I don’t know what I’d do
If I didn’t do what I’ve done
My education
Doesn’t come with a degree
Just try to check my references
You’ll see just what I see

Can you do a spreadsheet
Or other desktop work
Try telemarketing
Or be a retail clerk
Could you be a line cook
Or maybe even clean
The only thing I’ve ever done is
Dream my dream

Chorus

I can help you write a song
I can teach guitar
I can paint your pooch, boy
I can drive a car
But put me in an office
And watch my motor skills run dry
My, oh my
My, oh my

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You Are

Well life has not been easy
There’s so much pressing on you
Between the kids and me
You’re stretched thin
But far beyond that sadness
And all that frustration
Lies a beauty that we share
From deep within

You get up each morning
You’re off to work each day
I try to make it easy as you go
But I’m not always here
And you’re on your own and lonely
And the kids aren’t often close enough
To hold you

But we love you with all our hearts
We love you with all our souls
We love you with every bit of who we are
‘Cause you’re amazing
You’re amazing, you are

We just need you to know
‘Cause we’re not always there to tell you
That you hold us all together with your glue
It binds us like nothing
That we have ever known
It’s supple, it stretches, it’s true

And we love you with all our heart
We love you with all our soul
We love you with every bit of who we are
‘Cause you’re amazing
You’re amazing
You are

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Kiester
I turned off of 90, south on 22
Heading down the two lane into town
Driving a Rider Truck, my car in tow behind
I think I might have passed my uncle’s farm

I’m on my way to somewhere new with an urge to glimpse the old
To see if my grandma’s house is still the same
With a movie camera as my eye, in wonder as I go
Capturing my past in moving frames

Chorus:
And don’t you know behind those curtains
And all those weathered panes
Are whispers “there are strangers on the street”
And if I had the strength of heart
I’d knock on all those doors
And find out what it’s like to never leave

My Grandma’s house is standing, I almost see her standing too
And hear “It’s Been a Blue, Blue Day” from the park
Though the roller rink has come and gone, the theater’s lit up bright
I’m quite surprised that it hasn’t gone dark

Kenny’s pool hall isn’t there now & he has long been gone
And the family still owns Grandma’s place
I drove away before I had the nerve to ask around
At the time there were things I couldn’t face

Chorus

I can’t imagine what it’s like
To live one place and never leave
To live your life in just one town
To have no chance to move away

I tell myself that I’ll go back and this time really stay
Look into the eyes of my family
I’ll ask them all to tell me tales that I have long since lost
I hope I have the sense to fill that dream

And I will sit behind those curtains
And all those weathered panes
And I won’t be the stranger on the street
To hear the stories from the heart
And open up old doors
And find out what it’s like to never leave

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