Mia Doi Todd

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I dig my own grave. I carve my decoy.
O. What should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, what should I be in this world so self-constructing

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I fuel my decay. I trample my joy
O, what should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, what should I be in this world so self-constructing

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

The hermit and the hero walk in parallel lines
One with bow and arrow, the other bowed eyes
In the house of mirrors
Looking different but the same
One pendulum swings from loving
To and back from disdain

Eighty-eight ways to build and destroy
I dig my own grave. I carve my decoy
O, what should I be in this world so self-destructing
O, What should I be in this world so self-constructing

Gravity and entropy
They have it out inside of me

In my age of reason
Complicated by feeling
I dream of impossible things
I dream of impractical things

In my age of anxiety
Complicated by destiny
I waste away the day

In my age of anger
Complicated by female matters
I scream mutiny

In my age of desperation
Complicated by ambition
I shoot myself in the foot

In my age of envy
Complicated by money
I go for broke

In my age of doubt
Complicated by our falling out
I pray to an unexistent God

In my age of reason
Complicated by feeling
I dream of impossible things
I dream of impractical things

No, no, no, no, no
You owe me nothing
No, no, no, no no
I'm not your job
No, no, no, no, no
We should just walk away
We both know
We know it's hard.

autumn comes to seaside town
A little later than the rest
The leaves hold on a little longer
Than they would have out west

no, no, no, no, no
You owe me nothing
No, no, no, no no
I'm not your job
No, no, no, no, no
We should just walk away
We both know
We know it's hard.

the leaves let go,
So let them go...
The leaves let go,
So let them...

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark Versus light
Yin and yang, x and why, my mother and my father made me one night

In the beginning, a murky mass of hydrogen helium
Voted to organize into higher elements
Carbon nitrogen and oxygen, protons electrons collide

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and why, my mother and my father made me one night

Forbidden fruit rotting on the vine
Forbidden fruit turning to wine. Intoxicating.
Nakedly we lay in an ecstatic embrace, trying not to come too quickly
One minute rise, plastic bagged lubricated safety tube

This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But where me and you meet to graze the divine pastures
This is not a through street; one cannot pass here
But run and jump with two feet
And break through all the matter

Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paralysis is everywhere
Throw your body to the edge of crisis
Paradise is everywhere

Digital, binary system, ones and zeroes, dark versus light
Yin and yang, x and why, my mother and my father
In me still fight, in me unite.

These are the growing pains Baby born, body must change These are the growing pains Skin and bone learn to replicate is to divide, destroy themselves towards a whole and greater health These are the growing pains Love is born, life must change These are the growing pains Skin and bone yearn to congregate They push and pull to meet and become one forge a frontier and a language common I've been heartbroken for a year and a day My adultery put my child to bed in shame She's not feeling well She won't come out to play All the other girls and boys they know what's best? forgive the past and live for the present These are the growing pains Nation born, nature must change These are the growing pains We came by boats, in hopes, in chains felled the forest for farm and firewoodand built a church on the hill to pray for the greater good These are the growing pains Country born, conscience must change These are the growing pains By gunpoint and penpoint the west was claimed as one man's burden another's manifest destiny with peace and justice divided unequally I've been heartbroken for a year and a day My adultery put my child to bed in shame She's not feeling well She won't come out to play All the other girls and boys they know what's best? forgive the past and live for the present These are the growing pains Love is born, life must change These are the growing pains the breakdown of the barricades There's fear and cowardice to be overcome by instinct, force and momentum -

No, no, no, no, no
You owe me nothing
No, no, no, no no
I'm not your job
No, no, no, no, no
We should just walk away
We both know
We know it's hard.

autumn comes to seaside town
A little later than the rest
The leaves hold on a little longer
Than they would have out west

no, no, no, no, no
You owe me nothing
No, no, no, no no
I'm not your job
No, no, no, no, no
We should just walk away
We both know
We know it's hard.

the leaves let go,
So let them go...
The leaves let go,
So let them...

There's a battleship parked in the river
Reenacting, open doors, open arms then open fire
There are mushroom clouds and machine-gunned copters descending
In the snapcracklepop fizzle of the fireworks
As they blast into the night air breathed in
By innumerable passengers screaming
"We are Number One "

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

There's a man I just met
He hasn't kissed me yet
He reminds me of someone else, only better
But I'm made ou of wax, so easy to impress
Am I melting too fast, dripping into your lips ?
Because all my heroes have turned human this year
Slinking 'round pool-tables, sinking into unflabled stupers
Whispering into the night air or into some girl's hair
" I am Number One "

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

There's a battleship parked in the Charles river
Shooting off fireworks that light up the world, then fall in the water
My love's next to me, head full of the next century
And wandering whether there'll be a wedding tomorrow
And the secret smoke signals in the aftermath of gunpowder
Seem the most significant indication of what's to come

Independence Day
Our Freedom is won
To choose our own way
When to go, what's to come
But with each tie we break
There is sacrifice
How many lives will it take ?
How many loves just must die ?

Like a knife come to slit my ties to the past
To all the things which bind me to the grave, you came
You came in the morning after a long night
You came in the morning after a dark night

I stared into the knife. to see if it would hurt me
Threaten my life, use me and desert me
To a decision, I came.
I came in the morning after a long night
I came in the morning after a dark night

I took the knife, slid it under my belt
Was so surprised at the joy I felt
To come out of the mourning, I Came
I came out of the mourning after a long night
I came out of the mourning after a dark night

Like a knife come to slit our ties to the past
To all the things which bind us to the grave, we came
We came in the morning alter a long night
We came in the morning after a dark night

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize one's dreams

Once I was enslaved to a human being
My mother, my lover. Next who will it be
Marry me, marry me, marry me
I'm happiest in pursuit of liberty

Once I was enslaved to a human being
One half the saint and the other the villain
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there in emergency
Marry me, marry me, marry me
Kiss the only hand there 'til eternity

Once I was enslaved to a human being
What to do today now that I'm free
Merry me, merry me, merry me
Is this how it feels to realize my dreams