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Achievements in Large Scale Topiary

by Monster Furniture

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1.
Archaeology 06:04
There’s a ghost living in the polygraph First a scream and then a laugh From the waveforms I find nothing There was you digging up the ocean floor Treasures unaccounted for Tell your friends you can’t come out to play I am one trinket on a crowded shelf Would you notice if I fell And broke into a million pieces Line it up straight and I will knock it down Burn a forest to the ground But weeds will always find the room to grow I could have done better I could have made a movie I could have listened in class I could have learned to draw from observation I could taken care of our backyard I could have used my eraser I could have done better I could have learned how to swim I could have traveled I let my fucking passport expire with one stamp in it I could have gotten in shape I could have distinguished myself in a comments section I could have avoided prescribed opinions and landed on an original thought or feeling I could have done better I could have called an old friend I could have cooked more I could have eaten less I could have taught my dog the difference between acting pathetic and learning from her mistakes I could have had better ideas I have so many bad ideas I could have followed through I could have found a new hobby I could have gotten really good at I don’t know bowling or poker or chess I could have read a book I could have written 300 words every day after work and ended up with a ton of usable material 300 words is just not that much I could have self-published a collection of humorous essays on the psychological tolls of near constant injury
2.
Stilts 03:53
Sharpen garden shears Overgrowth to clear Jungles strengthen roots I belong to you Walk around on stilts Walk around a clean target Be more flesh than ghost Scared but not alone Walk around on stilts Walk around, be seen Walk around on stilts Walk around a clean target
3.
Sequoia 03:49
Airplane crash lands in the pond Nervous people braced for the fall Redwood throwing its weight around Get square with younger version of self Grand sequoia Protection comes at a cost Give no quarter Cut my memories off Stand tall in adjacent rooms of the house Nightmare flowers rattle and cloy Send more permafrost from the grave Sacred geometry stacked in a maze If I shut my eyes will I dream of millipedes still? Grand sequoia Help me prepare for the spill I’m so tired of fighting invisible vines Give no quarter Cut my memories off If I shut my eyes will I hear the millipedes call? Hew my memories Help me prepare for the fall
4.
Flowers 04:56
Take me out to find The criminal enterprise Busting out the windows Of unsuspecting cars Magnifying glass Over backyard termite hill Swaying with the flowers You’re a dancer You’re a perfect symmetrical shape Waiting on the sidewalk Taking in the air How long can one breath last? I am everywhere Light a roman candle Point it at a hornet’s nest Swaying with the flowers You’re a dancer You’re a perfect symmetrical shape Minutes become hours With abandon Making perfect symmetrical shapes
5.
Ivy 04:27
TV face the wall Make a list of goals Ivy Lay still, limbless giant Get drunk every third night Ivy
6.
Wake in a hole Sit around and act Like you’re in the frame Even as the checks bounce Find a way to make Time capsules today You won’t be deterred By armloads of snakes By defiled graves Clinging to the face Of a fatal sun-kissed bluff Wish for stronger hands Laugh like a king Peel apart the legs Of wicked water bugs Hiding in the grass Feels somehow profound X’s over days
7.
Carbon 04:11
Well dries up Why aren’t you shaking? No sky Why aren’t you shaking? No land in sight We’re lost at sea Mountains open up their tops Ash clouds rain onto us I tighten up my grip on the ripcord Earth was never round enough Rough edges, jagged crusts Canals and causeways Killed the dinosaurs Lake’s gone dry And I’m still shaking Loud noise And ivy strangles At every point of intersection There’s no carbon left in this sour heart You should know
8.
Green Thumb 02:35
Here lies he who broke new ground Dug the hole where I woke up Strange new flora I have found Open up my mouth for more Here lies he who broke new ground Artifacts from ancient tribes How will history describe Your achievements in the yard?
9.
Unorganism 03:39
Sidewalk chairs got no one else I miss the life The razor’s edge And the fire that once compelled me to stay all night Sanding corners into nubs Stingray, take me to your hole Where mariners go to disengage from life And waste their time
10.
Overgrowth 06:07
Inhaling dust from the page Boney hands over lines Digging for treasure My mind is a rotary saw There is a garden Where hemlock has learned to hunt in packs Insects are cavalier And sunlight is only memory We will do our best to make This overgrowth a home Reagan has learned how to walk Down the stairs on her hands Damien’s new Rottweiler Barks at the scent of new blood Theirs is a house where Square-footage is likely to change Build strong, build high With triangles to ward off The flies and the pack-masters marching in file “Today,” I said, “I will produce, not harvest. I will not become lost in the details.” And still, I began to wander almost immediately, purposeless like a grieving specter in the attic of a remote farmhouse. Hours passed. I could see through the cracks in the blinds that there was still sunlight, so I put on my boots. The dog pawed at the back door and whined. She had carved acute streaks into the paint, and I reprimanded her to the best of my ability. We went outside. The stalks were the highest I’d seen them yet. Through the filter of their latticework, the sun cast copulating shadow creatures onto the concrete. Jerky movements. Malaise. General discomfort. For a moment my knees became weak, and I sat on the bench to collect myself. The air felt thick. A putrid stench. Shouting from two buildings down the block. In the spring we had agreed to a scientific approach. On a rotating schedule each of us was to assess the rate of its growth and log irregularities in shape, color, behavior, appetite. I had Saturday and Sunday, sometimes Wednesday night, sometimes Friday afternoon. Already my notebook was a jumbled wreck: phrases on phrases, shaky grids on unlined paper, a crude ballpoint pen drawing of a flower with rows of teeth like a shark, holding in its jaws the limp body of a boy. I have failed spectacularly. A pair of gardening gloves lay side by side on top of the cellar door. I picked them up and checked for spiders then put them on, stretched my fingers, cracked off some of the caked mud with phantom applause and caught the attention of the dog once more. She was ready to go back inside. Her tail was low and she stood at the door with her head spun around backwards and her eyes wide and scared. It wasn’t time yet. My nail beds itched. We had work to do. We will do our best to make This overgrowth a home

credits

released September 14, 2018

Written and recorded by Gabe Smoller
Drums recorded by Tym Wojcik
Mixed and mastered by Terry Edelman at Space Jam Studio in Brooklyn, NY

Additional vox performed by Freddie Wyss on Green Thumb and Overgrowth

Album art by Gabe Smoller

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Monster Furniture Brooklyn, New York

"Giant Egg" out now!

Monster Furniture is the moniker of Brooklyn-based recording artist Gabe Smoller. Across genre-spanning albums and with a rotating cast of collaborators, he writes songs about dogs, death, containment, illness, and home renovation, finding complexity in the mundane (and with just enough DIY eccentricities to keep things from getting too heavy). ... more

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