Firefly Jars from Closed Beginnings by Australian Art Orchestra | Reuben Lewis | Tariro Mavondo | Peter Knight

Introduction

and the sky is 
an up in smoke
colour 
a fire engine river
red eye
colour
and we
gather
fire flies on
top of mountain 
to pray 


Piece 1

I woke up wanting 
your chest a railing 
for the soft landing 
of my chest 
our fingers 
interlaced 
as if 
this was their
safe place 
If your body was 
half a continent 
I would want to 
wander it 
not as a guest but
a voyager returning 
to her homeland 
your lips are pilgrims
unholy yet shelter still 
not for the use of 
prayer 
see to me they are shaped
like my church 
there are many gods 
we can worship 
not every arch
or doorway is meant 
for everyone to enter through
I want 
to feel the precipice 
that point 
where your bones
climb into the gloves
of skin 
where your heart beat
where your heart beat
where your heart beats
so mine can begin
what is this jive 
this jam
this traffic 
of endorphins 
these pheromones 
and how long
does it take for them to wane?

I want 
to feel the precipice 
that point 
where your bones
climb into the gloves
of skin 
where your heart beats
so mine can begin
what is this jive 
this jam
this traffic 
of endorphins 
these pheromones 
and how long
does it take for them to wane?

do all the stories of lovers 
have to end with a drive into the sunset?
or can some finish with a moon 
embracing shadows
a pair of silhouettes 
that know the dangers of flying too close to the sun 


Piece 2

your palms are 
holding 
the whole of me up
I said

your palms are 
holding 
the whole of me 
green 
like
rainforest fern leaf 
umbrella of my sky
the world is too hot 
right now 
you 
you are the dew
the cucumber 
to my skin 
the running water to my bath 
the hands speaking honey 
to the 206 bones that carry
pain in my body
your eyes are windows 
without the imposition 
of curtains 
you teach me 
you teach me
you teach me how scripture 
can be without bible
your eyes they speak to me 
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we were the embryo 
of a star 
how we lit one another 
how for millions and billions of years 
and dove like pebbles into 
one another’s ocean 
how we never sunk 
because we both offered up
our bodies as rafts

have you seen a moon disrobe 
in front of her sun
it forces all the colours of the rainbow
to bow 
you know my island 
how to gather my wings
and alchemise 
the lightning bolts 
striking my sky 
into fireworks
just for my viewing 
so why then do you not know
how to stop dropping bombs
and tearing holes into my heart 

your eyes 
your eyes they speak to me 
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we were the embryo 
of a star 
how we lit one another 
how for millions and billions of years 
and dove like pebbles into 
one another’s ocean 
how we never sunk 

your eyes they speak to me 
of lifetimes
of lives lived
how we never sunk
because we both offered up
our bodies as rafts
how we were not just shells
on someone else’s sand 
but housed a sizeable 
portion of each other’s spirit 
how this was the secret 
to staying afloat
anchored
in the harbour of the other

I can see your palms pressing 
firmly on the dressing 
as if this gesture were
a kind of prayer 
but I keep on bleeding 
I remember now 
the lovers manifesto
is that 
we are the greatest 
veterans of 
a cold
cold
war


Piece 3

I studied you 
in dolphin
all the angles
of you
I dove deep
into the grove
of your nails
I sipped
the neck
of your ocean
I told you
I told you 
I told you
you are what 
love 
comes 
from
the arch of 
your story 
stretches
beyond
lane of ocean
beyond
the hips
that cradled 
man and 
let him 
loose
is before 
parrots were made kings
before stained seconds
and dirty fences 
I studied you 
in dolphin
all the angles of you
I dove deep 
into the grove
of your nails
I sipped 
the neck 
of your ocean

you 
you sat 
with night 
on hard roads
you were
life assembled
from water
a mesh of light
in the eye
of the universe's 
storm
a sleeping sun
and you 
are known by name
and you
are here 
to chase the land
back to the ocean
and reverse
the clown's
curse


Piece 4

can I lay across your sunset lap
and be held by arms that aren’t 
my own just this once 
for even a red wood longs to be 
a bonsai tree sometimes 
your arms they speak to me of
all that is good 
like cinnamon 
like cinnamon
and my grandma’s front door
I have 
memorised each stain 
on her pine wood like 
I have  
every pattern on her face 
like how the 
rivers and roads
she’s ever crossed
have found their way 
to the heaven of her
and I think I 
love you 
like I love her
I think
I love you 
bend all the vertebrae 
of my spine 
touch me like the soft folds
of the first fractals of light 
like butter licking the 
waistline of freshly baked bread 
be the sea 
be the sea 
be the sea 
whispering sweet nothings 
of 
it’s going to be okay
it’s going to be okay
it’s okay to be okay 
bring hope to the world
make sure this black body
can fit in it 
see that zebra vase on the 
living room table 
see how it is the only thing 
I can own in a country 
that won’t claim me 
so please won’t you claim me
claim me 
claim me 


Piece 5

do not talk to me of war
when bombs are falling
from the sky
daffodils and dandelions 
were gods 
before the 
primitive man
got hold of the
bible and turned
saint mary 
into a witch
and
crafted 
hell
as the
merchant 
that 
doesn't 
sleep
do not talk to 
me of war 
when a 
black man's
disco tears
on the freeway
become
his war song
he cries diamonds
from his mosaic wings
alongside him
the world's issues fall

• Experimental
• Jazz
• contemporary
• new jazz
• new music
• Australia