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At Night You Fly

from Teach, Inspire, Be Real by Diane Patterson

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Inspired, but not exactly reflecting, the story of poetry mentor Spoon Jackson, California maximum security inmate, serving life without parole for over 35 years now. He actually murdered a woman in a fit of anger, as I learned after I wrote this song. In ten years of correspondence, Spoon Jackson never did tell me the details of his crime. When I first spent time with Ani DiFranco, the two of us realized we were corresponding with the same man, poet and inmate Spoon Jackson. She had just made and recorded one Spoon Jackson's poems into a beautiful blues songs. And I had just released this song on Teach, Inspire, Be Real. We played our songs for each other. After Ani heard my song, she respectfully told me that it might be good to know, as I take this song out into the world, that though I say he "killed a man," the truth of Spoon's crime is that he stabbed to death a woman. We both consider Spoon a friend. I met him when I would play music in New Folsom prison, where Spoon was, and still is wherever he is held, a poetry mentor and teacher to many. I pray that he will someday be able to express his very real sorrow for his crime, and talk about it, and write about it, which I believe will help to facilitate release from prison, which he so desperately desires.

lyrics

At Night You Fly with the birds of the dark
Burning spark
They tell me when you were so young
You killed a woman
Decades of life without parole’s
Not kept you down
Your poet’s pen carries your voice
Across the land
Makes of you a living man
You’re not just a prisoner
Your family’s just a memory in photographs
You ran across the desert sand,
Watched trains roar past
Long gone, that innocence of youth
You as a child
Now all these letters that you write
Your realness shines from solitude
Through the night
You’re not just a prisoner
At night you fly with the birds of the dark
Burning spark
Northern Ireland, South Africa
Guantanamo
Sisters and brothers behind bars
Anonymous
In dark worlds of injustice and crime
And razor wire
When will humanity rejoice in human life
In every soul as someone’s child
You’re not just a prisoner, not just a prisoner
No one can make the apple grow faster on the tree
Johnny Cash still wears black till we’re all free
At night you fly with the birds of the dark
Burning spark

credits

from Teach, Inspire, Be Real, released April 8, 2016
Diane on vocals and shruti box

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all rights reserved

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Diane Patterson Ashland, Oregon

Folkgoddess Diane Patterson sings the world awake with powerful voice and revolutionary lyrics. Her sincere spirit and roots storytelling plant seeds of respect and justice. She’s fueled by music-as-activism and love-as-revolution. Made in New Orleans, Diane’s new 2018 album features Mike Napolitano and Ani DiFranco. ... more

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