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luke kurtis - between here and there

from Georgia Dusk by luke kurtis & Dudgrick Bevins

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lyrics

i have tough feet
from growing up in the country
climbing trees
winding down gravel roads barefoot
and walking to the creek

after i moved to New York
i walked down Christopher Street
to hang out at the piers
jutting into the Hudson
a place where queers
met for sex and sunning
 
it was an in-between time
before the river park
filled with bikes and rollerblades
it was the glory days
when the city was new
and my heart leapt
watching sunset over Jersey

New York sunsets are worthy
and of special note
where reflections bounce
off glass towers
like monolith stones
in memory of our ancestors
like the tombstones scattered
across the hills of my youth

we come from somewhere else
most all of us, Americans
country of immigrant dreamers
bankers, doctors, farmers, cleaners
the whole lot of us
exiles, expatriates, and slaves

my ancestors came across the sea
generations ago
and settled in an Appalachian valley
among Cherokee hills and old growth forests
planting fields of cotton
and sowing hay

the memory of red clay
caked between my toes
seems far removed
from city sidewalks i now tread
where i cannot even go down to the river
to wash my feet or
seek forgiveness and baptism

the Village is lined with brownstones
homes dating back over a century
holding memories and stories
like Georgia barns hide secrets
hanging in the loft
and country churches string them up
dangling from the steeple by a noose

the Marlton House was built in 1900
turn of the century SRO
where my poet comrades stayed
from Kerouac to Millay

pre-war apartment buildings
pile upon modern streets
the sculpture of Rock Center
the lounges of Radio City
this glory, this decadence
is the epitome of New York style
the excess of jazz and deco and bop

the Titanic sank in 1912
and her survivors were brought
to the Jane Hotel by the river

my grandmother was born in 1913
on the family plantation
in the Appalachian foothills

i can trace a thread
between here and there
from this isle of Manhattan
to that Georgian valley
for my life is in these places
and i am of them
equally

i ascend from the subway
pull the hood of my jacket
over my head
to protect against the wind
cracking the skin of my lips
hardened from the bleeding winter
tough skin from head to toe

when the sun sets behind
those darkened hills
where i walked barefoot through the trees
i will remember those long shadows
like the World Trade Center
towering over this island
as i look south down 6th Avenue
from Greenwich Village

and know i am home

credits

from Georgia Dusk, released November 20, 2022

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luke kurtis New York

luke kurtis is an interdisciplinary artist making experimental music Ideas are the root of his work, forgoing any signature style in favor of conceptually-driven aesthetics and design.

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