He Was Going To Be A Big Star
by Billy Simmons

He grew up quick, in a small mill town
No ordinary cog in the machine
A mountain of a boy
With a howitzer for an arm
Prematurely thrust upon the scene

Everyone knew, from what they could see
That he'd be a big star someday
A bonafide flamethrower
With a steely eye
And an unassuming way

Chorus:
Yes, he was going to be a big star someday
A true hero through and through
A big league baseball player
The likes of which, we never knew
Oh yeah, he was going to be a big star
Cuz that's what people
Expected him to do

People came from miles around
To see his golden arm
Hoping to catch a fleeting glimpse
Of this good ol' boy
From Bennett's farm

Showing no mercy towards anyone
And always aiming to please
He mowed opposing batters down
With ruthlessness
And ease

Chorus

The overzealous crowds had unfairly pinned
All of their dreams on his precious right limb
And soon, the pressure to succeed
Had begun to mount
Becoming too much for him

And so, with a penchant for booze
He passed up on the fame
Drinking all of their hopes away
Washing them down, with a shot and a beer
While turning his back on the game

The pride of Barre Falls
Was going to be
A big league star someday
And yet, they found him dead on the floor
At the tender age of thirty-three

The whole damn town thought he was going to be
A big league baseball star
What a crying shame
That we just can't be
Who we really are

Chorus

No one knows just how you feel
You carry a wound that doesn’t heal

Sudden sounds still startle you, your instincts kick in strong
Though time has dulled the pain a bit, the scars are far from gone
Your constant pain is hidden from the people that you meet
And the twisted road from innocence is a one-way street

Your mind drifts back to open fields, where battle fires once raged
You were there when the cannons flared, that’s where you came of age
You knew that it was senseless then, but still you carried on
For God, and country, and your men, ‘til all your fire was gone

Chorus:
Your constant pain is hidden
from the people that you meet
And the twisted road from innocence
is a one-way street

The first time you saw combat, you remember how you cried
“Oh my God, I hit someone,” and “Oh my God, he’s died”
The next time you saw battle, though, things had changed inside
“The stupid fool should not have run, he never should have tried”

Chorus

Bridge
It’s the same sun rising that rose the day before
But you are not the same man they sent away to war
You carry all those memories, you carry all the pain
Of the innocence that you’ve lost, and never could regain

Sudden sounds still startle you, and ghosts invade your dreams
Fallen faces from the fray, both friend and foe it seems
Though memories like the leaves of Fall may scatter in the wind
Through all the seasons of your life, you’ve wished your war would end

Chorus

Congratulations to our Nov 2006 Winner:

On Any Given Day
by Jody Katopothis

A woman sits down to the mirror
Taking in the light and the lines
On the face that’s looking back at her
On any given day

A man bends down to touch the earth
Fills his fists with the colored clay
And he wonders what his life is worth
On any given day

And they lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light
They lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light

There’s a feeling that all is well
And usually, some moment of clarity
When all our fears are still
On any given day

But sometimes it’s hard to find
Between the longings of the heart
And the soul, and the restless mind
On any given day

Still we lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light
We lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light

I take comfort in song
Threading thoughts together I play
And I try to keep the rhythm strong
On any given day

You, your hands are always full
With the fruits of your labor
They are strong with the push and pull
On any given day

And we lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light
We lie down together at night
Certain of morning and the promise of light

Congratulations to our Feb 2007 Winner:

Whistle Stop
by Tyler Stenson

It's the end of the line
Your train rolled through the time.
Now, all your graces
And your legacies stand.
Don't whisper softly the things
That you want loudly to be!
Be like a wave
Leave impressions in the sand.
Cause that whistle stop is coming strong
And big machines are hard to stop.

So I'll leave behind use to be's
And that horizon,
we'll leave to the dirt roads
Regret and disdain.
Every sun is going to fade
But in the morning rays
I hear a songbird singing your name.

And where it stops I can't say
But those warm summer days
Will roll by like cars on a train.
And people everywhere
Are looking back
And end up crying
on their hands and knees
Because its the end of the line.

Your train rolled through the time
So I'll say goodbye
to the people you know.
Don't whisper softly the things
That you want loudly to be
Oh my, how your legacy glows!

And that whistle stop is coming strong
And big machines are hard to stop
Once they get going.

She said I know there's something deeper here
I'm supposed to discover
But all I really want tonight
is to find myself a lover
Cowboys are my weakness
so won't you buy me a drink
Whiskey is my poison
that way I don't have to think about it

Chorus:
Easy come and easy go
if you don't try you'll never know
sometimes it seems like it depends
on which way the wind decides to blow.

One night turned to two, it turned to three,
it turned to four
Mornings find their clothes entangled
strewn across the floor
But we all know how these things go
Less isn't always more
She laid her cards out on the table
and he had one foot out the door.

He said "Woman, you make me want to
be a better man,
but darlin', I don't really think that I can.
You see, I've spent years and years perfecting
my womanizing ways.
I promised myself I'd be like this
til' I reached my grave."

He stayed true to his word, now she's sleeping alone
The circumstance reminds her that
her house is not her home.
She always saw it coming,
he never told a lie,
but the saddest thing is that he never said goodbye.

Cowboys are my weakness
so won't you buy me a drink
Whiskey is my poison
that way I don't have to think about it (2x)

The sinking sun is fading low
From crimson fire to azure glow
The stars emerge from hiding one by one
The sky is emptied as the day
Concedes the stage to night’s ballet
A dance as timeless as the setting sun

Chorus 1:
All the roads I’ve traveled, friends I’ve known
Times together, times alone
Our paths forever crossing, far and near
The melodies that fill my ears
And cloud my eyes with misty tears
Call through the years

A song that’s borne upon the wings
Of recollection often brings
A sense of all the times that passed between
Many dreams have had their hour
Others still have yet to flower
To bear the fruit that only time can bring

Chorus 2:
All the roads I’ve traveled, friends I’ve known
Times together, times alone
Our lives are interwoven far and near
As life unfolds before my eyes
The spirits of those thousand lives
Call through the years

Chorus:
Looking back I start to cry
One last time but my well has run dry
I guess it’s time I said goodbye
Feeling like I died inside
Her memory’s clear, but I just cry dry tears
There’s nothing left, Oh why?
Dry tears, dry tears, goodbye

New Year’s Day and I’m not afraid
To face the pain of yesterday
Guess I’m letting go, Oh, Oh
A year of grief has run its course
I blamed myself, filled with remorse
But it’s not my fault, Oh no

Bridge:
We didn’t have to drive that night
But she wanted to get home
On our way a car crossed the line
We laid her to rest that Sunday in the snow
Oh, Oh, the cold and lonely snow

Dry tears, I hope Miranda hears my goodbye
Dry tears, dry tears, goodbye

Congratulations to our
December 2006 Winner:

Give Your Love Away
by Galen Fous

I draw a hard line
it’s not an easy time
soothed by the red wine
watch things slip away

dance with surrender
villains and thieves draw near
reach for the tender
turn to face my fear

beneath her dark eyes
I sense the sunrise
writes in the night skies
just give your love away

searching divine law
reveals divine flaw
clutched in the eagle’s claw
just give your love away

magic as medicine
my altar on display
bathing the primal sin
just give my love away
just give my love away

cloud covered forms dissolve
just givin my love away
eyes opened, heart resolved
just givin my love away
tears moisten hard ground
just givin my love away
enter the dragon
just givin my love away

December 2006 Honorable Mention:

The Country Callin’
by Cameron James

She packed her bags, turned out the lights
Walked out the door n’ down five flights
To the street where she hailed a cab - then she looked back one last time

On a life full of holes, dug deep in her soul
With every corporate ladder rung, she fell more
So through the window of this cab she’s lookin’ forward, never lookin’ back on that life
She hopped a plane grabbed a window seat, she’s been headin’ south, so why not see
Southern skies

Chorus:
City girl needs to find her soul, she’s got no place to call her own
And lookin’ up at stars she never thought she’d be fallin’
Yea she’s a city girl but she hears, the Country Callin’

A rental car, a general store
She hired a guide to show her more
He took her to an old camp site, and around a fire, they stayed up and talked all night
He had a manly rugged face but she could feel her fallin’ for his country ways

Chorus
She warmed her hands by the heat of the fire
And watched the smoke rise higher and higher
Until she fell on her back to see, the Milky Way flowing gracefully in the sky

Those graceful stars above got into her blood
It filled the hole in her heart like a flood
And if God had made a place for her to look up at heaven from this Earth it was here
She found a home and a family under starry skies in the wide open country

Chorus
And man she’s fallin’, and the Country’s Callin’, the Country’s Callin’

December 2006
Honorable Mention:

Your Love is a Mandala
by Galen Fous

a dancer with a golden eye
gazed up and embraced my sky
we rode the rhythm
caught an ancient tide
and loved eternally
we loved eternally

the garden’s been covered in snow
angels lined up in a row
squall rises up from the sea
carryin her message to me

your love is a mandala
your heart burns endlessly
I walk through scattered ashes
prayin the wind hears my plea
whisperin’ truth under the moonlight
harvest a blessing for me
your love is a mandala
your heart burns endlessly

a flame licks at the edges
of the cloth that we’re woven from
we offer oaths, promise pledges
sooth the lion, praise the dove

December 2006 Honorable Mention:

Opinionated (NOT!)
by Kimball & Schulz

I called my favorite Senator
To see what he would say
About this thing called “War on Drugs”
That I heard of yesterday
Was he against or maybe for
What the government was doing
I thought that since he’s “in the game”
He’d have an answered brewing

When a lady answered--what a shock
She gave the phone up to a man
I guess HE was the manager
And only HE could tell the plan
But waffle after waffle
Dripped from his mouth like butter
And I kept asking different ways
For an opinion he might utter

Chorus 1
Gee! I thought politicians
Were elected by our grace
To stand up for each right we have
Not throw them in our face
Now I’ve started wondering
And I’m having lots of doubt
If they don’t back up how we vote
Maybe we should vote them out

“The Senator’s not for more use”
Well, there’s first class DHU!
But what he said about Iraq
Made my head spin - I said “Huh?”
He claimed THAT was an easy choice
Against! Against for sure!
So why sidestep the “War on Drugs”
Was it cause or was it cure?

It seemed that on this issue
He just wouldn’t give a stance
And I was growing weary of
This grand “fence-sitting” dance
He said he’d send a statement
Of his policy on THIS war
But I’ve been waiting near SIX MONTHS
And it’s never reached my door

Chorus 1 And I thought…

So to this Senator and all the rest
Who think blather fills the gap
If you can’t tell me your opinions
It means you’ view the truth as TRAP
You’d best start “representing”
Give us something we can quote
‘Cause if you can’t tell me where you stand
You will NEVER get my vote!

Chorus 1 ‘Cause I thought…

Tag
Politicians! Politicians!
Some are such a slimy breed
‘Cause no matter what the party name
They are full of graft and greed
Democrat, Republican, Libertarians, Greens as well
I’m voting Independent - they can all just go to hell!

Chorus 2
Cause I thought politicians
Were elected by our grace
To stand up for each right we have
Not throw them in our face
Now I’m no longer wondering
I really have no doubt
It’s time for us to all join hands
And boot the bastards out