Child Already Knew
(Vaudeville 2040)

His heart was broken
by a backward birth
to a crooked woman
whose reckless husbandn cared nothing for the child.

Mother drugged.
Father shrugged.
Child already knew that he was alone.

Silent and stoic,
lungs filled with air, attachment severed, eyes wide open and adjusted to the light.

Mother drugged.
Father shrugged.
Child already knew that he was alone.

Placed on mother’s
cold wet breast
father stuck a match
and lit up a cigarette.

Mother drugged.
Father shrugged.
Child already knew
that he was alone.

(LISTEN)

© jhene erwin 2003 all rights reserved

Ever After
(Dog in the Manger)

She was born among orchids. Warm, red-silk water, embroidered gold.
Descending tall grasses. Golden neck arch curving over tidal wave heart aches.

Metronome timing rooted deep by the tides, melodic chiming from the throats of doves.
Pebbles, polished, inlaid in red clay
display altered dreaming.

Foreign to cold she digs wells in the sun. At home in the wheat fields, gentle ascendants climb
staining her ankles in black berry juice.

She commands her own alphabet. She sires her own symphonies.
She hears the hushed willows confiding in night and paints their language blue in a continent whose
rivers run pure.

(LISTEN)

© jhene erwin 1998 all rights reserved

phonebooth

"Cabaret with a programmed twist. ...Her sultry, steamy delivery and provocative, introspective lyrics describe the hidden, sticky psychology of a woman's struggle in a crazy world." Musician Super Highway - Cynthia Mora

"...so beautifully complex as to elude proper description -- how does one describe a show whose songs, medium, and theme blur the distinction between lyrics and poetry, the electronic and the organic, voyeurism and experience?" Lisa Zugschwerdt

"Jhene Erwin’s record is a suggestive affair. ...is a compelling listen." Collected Sounds - Anna Maria Stjärnell

Full reviews available here.