A hard copy of Here, We Are, by Tenrai Kenshin. Includes a 20 page lyric booklet, and a download code for Here, We Are [Profound Mix], an uncut edition of Tenrai's entire performance at The Dial Studios.
Booklet and insert formatting by Elizabeth Rhea
Cover Photo by John Cuyugan
All Photo Editing and Other Photography by Michael Lee
(except pg 1-2 by Mikkesha Mannings, pg 4 by Josh Nuñez, pg 9-10 by Eboni McClanahan, pg 19 by Loyde Cordero)
Includes unlimited streaming of Here, We Are.
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
"I'm a big believer in the abstract. Oceans call to me, and when I go to the beach I feel like I can just get lost just looking at it. There's a scripture that says 'the deep calls out to the deep' [Psalm 42].
You know? You think about long journeys across the ocean; you think about going down low; you think about the weight of the water on you; you think about it washing over you.
And all these things go into our everyday experience. All of it goes into the reflection on the water that shows us who we really are. That feeling of being lost and being all alone out there. All these things just kind of wrap together in that poem, so I was like, 'this is all about oceans'."
-Michael Lee/Tenrai Kenshin
lyrics
Such beautiful,bombed-out battleships you are!
Simply stunning!
If nothing else I say rings true, I pray these words do:
You are gorgeous!
The way strength and pain intertwine in your eyes
is reminiscent of sunrises, shining
like God fused stardust and music and drew beauty from clay
and made you!
Yet you, are slowly fading away.
Your fire
Used to burn brighter
Your legs strain from the weight of holding whole days with you,
I pray these words stay with you.
Welcome wounded warriors!
Leave that sword by the door,
Drop your armor elsewhere, we've come to help here, so come in.
Forget your struggles for a bit,
Let the weight of your mistakes simply slip away,
You are safe here, so stand.
Like God is your Father
and He would split the Red Sea to get you to safety.
Stand TALL.
Like your shoulders are razorblades
sharp enough to cut the glass ceilings you've built yourselves.
Like palm trees are weeds to you and flying,
Flying is easy!
You just leap from really tall things and believe you can!
Stand like your souls are unshakable,
And if you let our Great Anchor aweigh, there's no storm that can break you
We all know,
Sometimes the waves are too large
The ocean, too dark
And we seem so far from home to feel known;
Some days, we all forget who we are,
Stuck on what we think we should be instead,
like I'm not quite Dr. King
a Jedi, or a dinosaur, I am a miracle.
The seventh of six miscarriages
90% chance of down syndrome, born without a hint
I believe in miracles
You are a miracle!
Light dances in your eyes like ice skaters
Your glow is Aurora Borealis
Train your eyes to see how important your now is
We are miracles.
Of vision and near-death experience.
Of chance meetings and dead writers whose words still inspire
We may sometimes take the hard-headed road
But where we find ourselves does not define us.
We were designed for more,
Step forward.
We have room to grow vast as oceans and galaxies
So set these broken ships to sea.
We're NOT hopeless.
We'll weather this weather together and
Sail these stormy seas.
May hope and Holy Ghost hold us all
And when our stories are told, may the records show
The world wasn't worthy of our call.
credits
from Here, We Are.,
track released December 8, 2014
Written and performed by Michael Lee
Recording/Mixing Engineer: Nick de Gangi
Recording Assistant: Bianca Hollins
Producer: Kenneth Foster
Artwork by Michael Lee & Mikkesha Mannings
Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021
