beautiful small things
Concert at the Poetry Foundation
complete Song Lyrics and Poems
“Songs are felt by the Heart” by Luke Burke
Songs are felt by the heart
Like a part of your soul
Is being told to the world
Voices lift and carry the words
Near and far
Beauty does find ways to wind its vine
throughout the melody.
In the life of the song
Emotions are relived at every listen
To feel the time in your life
That brings a memory
A song lives forever in your heart
beautiful small things (2017) -- text by Ryan Harris
I want to see the world not by the whole, but by the all too beautiful small things.
My overwhelming emotion is that there is always hope.
People Wish for Live (2019) -- text by Michael Zepf
People love hugs and they wish for more
Willing to wait forever
Hoping for love to come once more
Willing to wait forever
Always hoping for more and more
Willing to wait forever
“Catastrophe” by Luke Burke
He always makes
his presence known.
This is whether he wants to
or not.
“The bad kid that won’t behave”
is what they say.
Always moving to his own pattern
that is not in his control.
Because his body always wins.
Some people find it unbelievable,
how he communicates.
He finds proving himself tiresome,
year after year…
To be forever respected,
the person almost has to be born
Neurotypical first and then lose their skills.
That you most likely take for granted.
The outsiders see a boy that doesn't care,
what usually is left unsaid
is that the boy cares too much.
I think it is funny the cat does
what it wants
and is not believed less than
for this.
Only they know if their body is listening.
Cats are independent animals
that feel they don’t have to educate others to be whole.
Keep a Cat mentality, boy.
In the Dark Night (2019) -- text by Michael Zepf
In the dark night
When the moon was white
My sorrow was out of sight
The world was looking all right
Meditation I: My light (2017) -- text by Rithik Sinhasan
I see light all the time. I see more reflections than you can possibly imagine. Other people look for long but I look for an instant and recall everything. No person really understands the nature of this unless they experience it themselves.
“Whirl” by Darren Stella
I am a calm body reading books
In a bookstore.
The stories riot on the shelves
as if based, hot and gaunt.
Maus, halt the sward more like quiet souls making book choices.
Maus, wear a right sensible mask of laughing stories.
Yes, I lack control of the uproar in the man, me.
Peace does not mingle with my body.
The struggle whirls the surrounding
With uncommon noise.
Tore Nike cannot keep
Enough lapping around my mind.
But, whale gathering nerves up my little brain.
I quickly load up stories to escape reality.
“The Roller Rink” by Benjamin Smidt
Catchy music attacks me
As I get my skates on,
Thanks to the beat of the loudspeakers.
Coasting before me
Are a bedlam of
Delighted artistes.
Watching the show
Are the timid bystanders,
Munching popcorn.
Dancing around the floor,
The shards of disco light,
Feet happy to be free.
I am an actor
Who doesn’t know his lines.
“Moving through time” by Benjamin Smidt
addition is subtraction
the estuary tells the sea
the babbling brooks
contribute their treasure
to the depths,
be so kind
as to give it back!
In the Dark Night (2019) -- text by Michael Zepf
In the dark night
When the moon was white
My sorrow was out of sight
The world was looking all right
“I’m rightly rogue” by Noah McSweeney
Rogue mind likes to talk about watches
Tons of kind thoughts interest me
but stay lifeless on my tongue.
I wish they would interest my mouth
and make an appearance today.
“Realities” by Noah McSweeney
A good life awaits me
Roads unlived are Klingon’s usurped haven
Tons of beginnings behave
Halls of shame behind me.
Roads to somewhere store my thoughts
Pleasing my mind
And opening light
To light filled balls of flame.
Some gleaming realities rise
Going before my too naughty
Important hands
That grab and make misery.
Rap about Girls (2020) -- text by Aarush Srivastava
Girls are all I see
I smile when they look at me
I think they are a pretty as rose
How I just tingle in my toes
How fun it seems to me
To meet one just like me
March 2017: Lucky (2019) -- text by Luke Burke
Want my voice to work
So sorry my body won’t cooperate
I am trying my best
But my body won’t listen to my brain
I think I have a lucky family
Because they have me as a son
“Mornings at Wrangell-St.Elias” by Aiden Levy
Enchanted acres rest in solitude,
Enclosed by magnificent glaciers.
Mountains protect secrets of the wild.
Centuries of quests
To find staying peace in one’s self
Are ghosts in the forest,
Dancing as the caribou rest around them.
“Plagued dalliances” by Aiden Levy
Walking home in my neighborhood,
I face incognito stones
Trying to trip agile runners,
Nosy dogs declaring authority
Over uncharted land,
Gaggles of geese
Mapping their route away
From decidedly endless, frozen pandemic days,
Where astounding numbers of lives have been lost.
I’m not dead, except in creativity.
Maddie and Dakotah (2020) -- text by Emily Friend
Maddie is picture perfect.
She really gives me all I need.
Her heart is gold.
Understanding Autism is her strength.
She is my always best sister.
It is rare to find a friend like Dakotah.
In all she does she brings hope and love.
No one is like her.
I do dances with her to make me happy.
I have only love for her.
Really she will do great things.
Be strong each day in all you do my friend.
“Waiting” by Antonietta Aiken
W – I am waiting for my birthday
A – the air outside smells good
I – like a snickers cake for my birthday
T – the days are getting longer
I – I like to go out for my birthday
N – the night weather in the spring
G – I will have a good birthday
“Bright Blue Sky” by Victoria Kudlinski
bright blue sky
flaming yellow like sun
blazing through the clouds
what a beautiful day
Apple tree
Flaming red
tastefully thing to eat
red color of love
Adages: 5 Motivational Musings (2017) -- text by Rahul Sivaruban
Harness resting. Stop. And breathe.
Memory is so hard to let go when angry.
Mystical is not scary if it is a spirit you know.
You must live the life you need to.
Harness some type of strength to work.
You need to leave your worries with me. You need to stay motivated to change the world.
I belong (2020) -- text by Nina Szabo
I belong to my world
I belong to my space
I belong to my universe of magic and charm
I am the boss
You are the judge
I am the queen
of my very unique time
“Run far into tomorrow” by Nadia Sohn-Fink
Run far into tomorrow
To tie today
To lines of static records
File them away
Tinting squinting sunlight
Making radiation
Fission friction sunlight
Keeping our cares away
Last part of the little memory
Is that the sun went down
Tying up all our pictures
To yesterday
“The Right Storm” by Nadia Sohn-Fink
Spent only half the sun
keeping summer bright
nests lined tight
the pattering rain
stormed my brain
tapping the outside tune within
listening for the rain therein
My neatest friend Z (2017) -- text by Rahul Sivaruban
My neatest friend Z. I so really needed a friend like her. She only sees my strengths. Testing my tiny soul that she is leaving. She just helps. Others so scared of my Autism. She seems to get I only try to do my best. I met my neatest friend at Symmes Players. Symmes Players is an extracurricular with Drama. She is the neatest person I know.
The Sixth Extinction (2019) -- text by Kenta Mignot
We are tiny
We are young
We are powerless
We are foolish
We are inhumane
Our home is precious
Our home is fragile
Our home is crying
Our home is yet resilient
Our home is the miracle of accidental nature
Look at it from outer space, the deep blue
Look at it from the inside, the melting red
Look at it as a bird, the gradation of green
Look at it as a fish, the diamond white in the water
Look at it as a tree, the faint purple in the wind
Look at it as a flower, the humming yellow of insects
Look at it as the head of a lion pack, the warm brown of the earth
Look at it as a star, the loving golden neighbor
I wonder if we do enough to protect it
I wonder if we are really the most superior species in 4.6 billion years
I wonder if we are letting the sixth extinction happen
“Lost, I am home” by Rumi Ottus
Lost in the lush
Green of the forest floor
Any worry
Blows away
With the ocean breeze
The forest sounds
A melody to a city boy’s ears
The birds serenade
Any passer by
Here I am home
Lost in the lush
Of an ecosystem
So welcoming
I may never return.
“Letter by letter” Rumi Ottus
Unlikely friends
Bonds forged letter by letter
We rise,
Rise up
Through the flames
Of a diagnosis
Which locks us up
Silent.
Alone.
In need of comrades
Who get it
In these letters
I found friends,
Soulmates
I also found me.
Lost in the letter board
I am found
A life worth living
Forged letter by letter.
Lake Erie (2020) -- text by Darren Stella
I wonder why it is so peaceful to stare.
I wonder why the rocks are so grained in the land.
I wonder why the lighthouse seems so abandoned.
I wonder why the sky looks so magical over the water.
I wonder why the tourists don’t look at it the way I do.