released January 11, 2014
DANGLING MODIFIERS
Cliff Notes
1.WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Lyrics & melody: Molly McIntyr
Arrangement: Annah Anti-Palindrome
I wish I was watching wheel of fortune with you
I wish I was watching wheel of fortune with you
But that'll never happen anymore
Cuz we want different things and we are being mature
Maybe we could just pretend for half an hour a night
Watch Vana turn the letters and say "everything's alright"
We could talk about how she never ages
Or Pat's theoretical back-stage rages
Be baffled when the people never guess
When the answer is so obvious
I wish I was watching wheel of fortune with you
I wish I was watching wheel of fortune with you
I would like to buy a vowel, it's Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh
I would like to buy a vowel, it's Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh
Oh.
2. PATTI LOVES GLORIA
Annah's cover/version of Patti Smith's cover/version of “Gloria” by the band, Them. This song was arranged and recorded for a multi-media art collaboration called Vindicated Violence. V.V. was performed in SF as part of the National Queer Arts Festival during the summer of 2012, and was curated & directed by Ri Molnar (who's a total dreamboat-genius:
mister-ri-molnar.tumblr.com). V.V. was meant to explore the internal landscapes of several different female assassins throughout history.
3. TIE OFF WITH HALOS
Sleep like an angel
With whiskey on your breath
Tie off with halos
Let god do all the rest
Doorjams swell in winter
And grief has stained your hair
Tangle me in the brambles of your sutures
Press me there
12:00 on Monday, the table, the dim eyes
Swollen from old memories you never would confide
Sure there are answers but none of them seem fair
I want all the good ones to change the color of my hair.
4. KEEP GOING
Genius, queercore filmmaker, Malic Amalya, made a beautiful video for this song entitled, “Woven Knots”. Check out his work at:
vimeo.com/malic
Oh Love, please fall lightly
Oh Death, please settle slow
Make my bones into a trellis
For all the vines to climb & grow
Flattened in your open palm
you held a dead butterfly
With dusty outstretched wings
that'd been rejected by the sky
Its body showed no signs of trauma,
no rips or punctures in its wings
A death so ominous & quiet,
a slow & gorgeous, viral thing
Please make my heart stop from the inside
No rips or punctures in its shape
Please help my body to endure such love
Help me keep going despite the ache
There's a viral ache that's spreading
Settled deep inside my bones
Woven knots among my tendons
Turned my heart into its home
An ache that's quelled by low vibrations
A humming deep inside your chest
By clutching fingers scarred in ink
And holding wrists with faded text
Oh Love, please fall lightly
Oh Death, please settle slow
Make my bones into a trellis
For all the vines to climb & grow
5. FIND YOUR ROLE
K. Sugar Hill on violin. The melody to this song originated from a traditional round that was written during the Crusades by an anonymous civilian. It was meant to archive the death of a loved one/community member, and its three part harmony was supposed to mimic the sounds of funeral bells during different times of the day. I rewrote the lyrics to make them relevant to the types of contemporary, state-sanctioned violence we see today- specifically with Treyvon Martin & Oscar Grant in mind.
I: Blood soaked school clothes
Bullets, tazers, prisons full
With capitalism in control
Justice is not possible
II: Oh riot
Oh revolt
Steal their weapons
Reclaim space
And guard your post
III: Recognize where
Privilege rests inside your bones
Use it to combat oppression
Find your role
6. MO(U)RNING SKY
This song is collaboration between Annah Anti-Palindrome & Aviv Gerber, with Daniel Siuba on piano
Baby, don't you cry
Let me drink your tears dry
There's a boat sailing your veins
Under a damp April sky
And the tide will rise high
Allow your sorrows
Swallow your pride
When the day becomes the night
Throw your anchor
Close your eyes
Let the waves rock you to sleep
While the gulls cry your lullaby
You've hit shore, rest for a while
As the sallow sky surrenders night
Now the night is wearing thin
Know where you are, know where you've been
You've got strength, allow it in
Feel it pulse beneath your skin
And the boat that haunts your veins
Has taken harbor from morning rays
When the dark becomes so bright
Cradle your body
Open your eyes
Hear the songs from up above
Like a plague of mo(u)rning doves
In each gesture
Worship the sound
Archive your memory
You will be found
7. JANUARY
K. Sugar Hill on banjo, accordion and fiddle.
On new years day of 2011, approximately 5,000 red-winged blackbirds mysteriously fell dead from the sky in the state of Arkansas. On new years day of 2011, I put someone I loved on a bus and said goodbye.
January started with a palindrome & ended with me so far away from home Toronto, Philly, Portland & Baltimore Raleigh, Durham, Asheville & still there's more Thousands of red winged black birds fell dead from the sky Somewhere in Arkansas before we said goodbye
And things are gorgeous Keats said, only because they die Its morning makes the dead dawn so brightly shine
I miss yellow sweaters, egg shells & wires The angles of your face when you're tired Magnolias, wilted daisies & thunderstorms Falls Village, Denver, Oakland, I hope there's more.
& so we'll hold each other Withstand, resist the fall & when you're gone I'll know It was worth it all
& so we'll hold each other Withstand, roll with the fall And when you're gone I'll know It was worth it all
8. CRICKET SYMPHONY
cricket sounds by some crickets
Hello Silence
Hello Refrain
Hello thoughtful precision
You are so careful with my name
In haunted pauses
Harvested vowels wait
For that impending sentence
And other unsaid remains
Words take root in your stomach
Sprout tall stalks up your throat
Blossom & flower among your teeth
And ripen on the tongues coat
All that folding trimming
Calculated paraphrase
Words come out of your mouth
Like well-made paper doll chains
And like crickets they wait
The full length of a day
Until they rub their limbs together
In that symphonic way
Hello Silence
Hello Refrain
Hello thoughtful precision
You are so careful with my name
9. NOVEMBER'S DAUGHTER
K. Sugar Hill on violin
Malic Amalya made a beautiful video for this song too.
Check out his work at:
vimeo.com/malic
Frozen lake swimming or tepid bath water
No matter which coast I'm still November's daughter
And you a child of the sweet violence of summer
Who craves Northeast winters where the sun does slumber
And again, the sun will rise
Remind us we're still alive
Branches stain the morning sky
Paper wings will soon take flight
10. METAL
This is a song about making new friends/ connecting deeply with other queer, working-class femmes, and how it's so exciting I feel like I might explode sometimes about it.
For more Annah, go to
annahantipalindrome.com, find her on facebook, or email resistingpalindromes@gmail.com. Album cover art made by Lex Non Scripta, recording by Annah Anti-Palindrome, mastered & duplicated by De Noise. Huge thanx to my family- both given & chosen; thank you always to Randy, the Darlingtons, the Peeblers, & my cat, Pocket.