Portrait from Desert Tortoise by Matt Zeltzer

Blown away by the streets,
even branches have no home
Slow collapsing paper mills loom giant

Billiard balls drift slowly to sleep,
Wonderlusting waitress sings herself to sleep
All the air drawn out into a cool beginning.

Throw your shoes in the back of the truck,
Its time to go, don’t pray for luck,
It’s a lonesome road when you’re running from your fate

Pallid as the midnight heat,
the innkeeper hounds her clock
Vaccuums blare into the deadly silence
Calling into the desert sky
It’s a golden, desperate lullaby
You’re only a victim if you can’t help yourself

Ive been sweatin’ through my teeth
Breathin’ through a sheet- I can’t take it

I’ve been kicked around and left for dead
I might not be ahead, but I’m not finished

As the branches turn to the east,
each one bows before the other
Rustling slow in the lightless border town.
Juanita tugging at her golden chain
Searching for a portrait in an empty frame
All the air drawn out into a cool beginning

Feather broken – lying in the dirt— ain’t no dying bird
Its only a portrait and it will fade in time

• Folk
• alt-country
• americana lofi modern
• indie rock
• roots-rock
• singer-songwriter
• California