WHISKEY JACK HOMAGE - Phyllis Sinclair
Whiskey Jack up in the tree
Come down sing your song with me
We can sing in harmony, I’ll follow you
You take the lead

Whiskey Jack, with your pocket full of calls
You turn my head to see, is it really you at all?
Are you the cooing white dove, whistle of the Hawk?
Is that you, come down to talk?

Right here, among the Pines
Right here, on this Timberline
Right here, you’ll always be
Right by me

Whiskey Jack you’re nobody’s fool
You make a way for the Winter in the month of June
When other wings have flown away, left these withered blooms
We still have you, you stay true

Whiskey Jack you wear it on your sleeve
Your heart is in the northland, on this taiga shield
Here before the ice came, before the Maple leaf
You’ll never leave. you’ve always been

Right here, among the Pines
Right here, on this Timberline
Right here, you’ll always be
Right by me

No Phoenix of this northern sky
Smothered embers, death by fire
You were never gone, you have survived
No Phoenix for five hundred years
You have never disappeared
You never left, no need to rise

Whiskey Jack you sure have caught my eye
If you and I were lovers, we’d never say good-bye
We’d build a love so strong, we’d wouldn’t have to try
You and I, through the skies

Right here, among the Pines
Right here, on this Timberline
Right here, You’ll always be
Right by me, Whiskey Jack

MONSTERS - Phyllis Sinclair

When trouble knocks at your window, fear taps on your spine
Fictitious conjectures and worries keep you chained, rob you blind
When doubt rubs its hand together, eager to make you its prey
Don’t run and hide under your bed, they’re only thoughts and thoughts can change
Like Frankenstein, Godzilla, Medusa, they’re only made to scare in the dark
Evil schemes from imagined dreams, afraid you’ll see what they really are

Monsters are the ones who hide under beds
Darkness is just daylight’s silhouette
Shadows say there’s light shining overhead
And dragons treated right can be your best friend

So when you hear that you can’t, hear that you’re wrong
That you’re nothing, that you’ll never be strong
Listen close stop don't run
The noise your hear is a Siren’s song

Monsters are the ones who hide under beds
Darkness is just daylight’s silhouette
Shadows say there’s light shining overhead
And dragons treated right can be your best friend

So c’mon pull yourself together, stand up for the things that you want
You are your own knight in shining armour, you’re are the one your dreams ride upon
Questions are just part of the knowing, Answers can be, sometimes, grey
But don’t give up, stand your ground, don’t you give your best away
Worry is a hungry vampire, doubt is just part of the game
Like Dracula on a midnight hunt, don’t let them draw blood from your veins

Monsters are the ones who hide under beds
Darkness is just daylight’s silhouette
Shadows say there’s light shining overhead

And dragons treated right can be your best friend

Monsters are the ones who hide under beds
Darkness is just daylight’s silhouette
Shadows say there’s light shining overhead
And dragons treated right can be your best friend

Monsters never make it to the end

FLICKER - Phyllis Sinclair

So your days are long, you say your fire is gone

And your feeling like a ball at the end of a chain

Flung around, up then your down

And you wonder if you’ll ever burn - steady again

Even when your light burns down to a flicker

Even when your candles burning low - there’s still a glow

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame burnin’

Where there’s a flicker there’s a light

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame burnin’

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

Did you know the sun’s strongest glow

Is after the cleansing of a pouring rain

Dirt and dust, it gets all cleaned up

Leaves a blinding brilliance in its light wave

Even when sun is clouded out to a sliver

Hidden by a storm what remains - is ours to gain

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame a burnin’

Where there’s a flicker there’s a l-i-g-h-t

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame burnin’

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

I see a glimmer, shimmer a ray, a spark no quitter in your eyes

I see desire, fire, a flame, a blaze a burning deep inside

And you and I both know

It takes a little wind to blow

A flicker back to life, a flicker back to life

So when your wind blows strong, know it won’t be long

Til your embers burst to life, ablaze again

Breeze and gusts, fan your cinders up

Light your waning fire to a flame

Even when your light has burned you down to a shiver

Bitter winds hit hard, know it blows - fire to your soul

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame a burnin’

Where there’s a flicker there’s a l-i-g-h-t

Where there’s a flicker there’s a flame burnin’

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

Waiting for the wind to fan its embers

ME AND PAULINE - Phyllis Sinclair
Me and Pauline we we went down to throw stones in the river

Walked across the railway tracks, thro’ budding willows to the river flats

Batting sandflies and mosquitoes, horseflies fast as torpedoes

On the muddy delta flats, just me and Pauline

On the muddy delta river flats, me and Pauline

Thro’ the tangled boughs of Juncos, Bobolink, Lark, and Sparrows

Nested deep in willow canes, blowing southward in the northern wind

Dodging Falcon, Hawk and Eagle, in the distance soaring Seagulls

Hung above the low tide shoreline calling me and Pauline

Hung above the low tide shoreline calling me and Pauline

It was when the stars hid in the sun’s glow, when whales came seeking Ciscoes

Nursed their babies in the shallows, way up river on the Capelin shoals

And their pearl backs teeter-tottered as they dipped on through that water

In the rich run, clear blue river with me and Pauline

In the rich run, clear, blue river with me and Pauline

And we walked out to the shoreline, where fresh water sifted salt brine

Joined the Whimbrels and the Plovers there a-pecking on the low tide floor

And we balanced on the boulders, with our arms out, tilted our shoulders

As we jumped from rock to boulder me and Pauline

As we jumped from rock to boulder me and Pauline

Then we reached down to the gravel, to find a flat rock that would travel

Glide above those rippled rollers moving inward to the rocky shore

And we skimmed them cross the water, making two girls water walkers

Oh the muddy delta river flats, made me and Pauline

Oh the muddy delta river flats, made me and Pauline

Coo, coo, coo, coo, coo

Coo, coo, coo, coo, coo

Coo, coo, coo, coo, coo

TOUGH GIRL - Phyllis Sinclair

There’s no-one tougher than me, when I’m pressed against the wall

When I fear that I might fall and scrape my knees

When I’ve heard it said again, “hey, sorry there my friend,

We like you but… “, then shake my hand and turn to leave

I’m a tough girl, living in a rough world

Where few there are who take their time to really see and hear me

I’m a tough girl, and I’m making myself heard

Even when my voice is silenced, I still speak without word

There’s no-one tougher than me, when my road comes to an end

When just around the bend, is the place that I want to be

A tree cuts off my path, I feel I’m at an impasse

I’ll walk, I’ll use my legs, I’ll use my steady feet

I’m a tough girl, living in a rough world

Where its hard to break the glass that hovers over me

And even if I could, really don’t know if I want or should

The top is not a place where I’m willing to lose sight of me

Tough doesn’t mean I’m hard, or unkind

Doesn’t give me the right to hurt, shame or malign

It means that I’ll walk my given path, by the ancient ones who only ask

That I live to tell my story

I’m a tough girl, or I wouldn’t be here now

Hand firm on my plough I sow my seeds

I’m a tough girl, I’m valid and I’m strong

And if I have to walk alone well that’s just fine by me

KiYAM - Phyllis Sinclair

Tried to start the car this morning, engine wouldn’t turn

Threw my head back on the seat rest, breathed out a sigh to burn

Away the disappointment, bite my tongue from words I might say

No satin lining in my pocket, patent leather shoes

I need a thought to change conditions, change of attitude

To keep my head out of the water, need a wave of simple gratitude

Doesn’t matter, let it be, pay no mind, let go, release, Kiyam

Don’t let the moon find you awake,

Sometimes the best things come by way of chance

When things don’t go as planned, Kiyam

Funny how a word can move you, change your point of view

Nothing changes just perspective, shows what thoughts can do 

To turn a cloud of dust to moonbeams, get timeless tales from craters on the moon

Doesn’t matter, let it be, pay no mind, let go, release, Kiyam

Don’t let the moon find you awake, Sometimes the best things come by way of chance

When things don’t go as planned, Kiyam

Doesn’t matter, let it be, pay no mind, let go, release, Kiyam

Don’t let the moon find you awake, 

Sometimes the best things come by way of chance

When things don’t go as planned, Kiyam

Kiyam, Kiyam

IF I WERE A BIRD - Phyllis Sinclair

If I were a bird, I’d find my way to you

Wouldn’t matter where you are, or time of year

Full moon and solar tide

Carry me for miles and miles to you - yes its true

Your a cappella cry - pulls me to your side

To play your song with you if I were a bird

And if my tiny wings could lift the Palisades

Andes, Himalayas, Rocky Mountain Range

No wall to slow me down

No granite crown around or in my way - that would be okay.

Across the great divide, to the ocean’s other side

It wouldn’t matter to me if I were a bird

Fly out past the zooming satellites

Fly out past the moon

Fly beyond the spinning universe

Just to sing for you my unconditional love song

Birds don’t mind the limb they light upon, craggy, bent or tall

Disregard the state or shape its in, only that it called, its

Unconditional love song

I don’t mind the place I find you in, where your pieces fall

Disregard the state or shape your in, only that you called, for my

Unconditional, undeniable love song

Unconditional ,undeniable, love song

If I were a bird I’d find my way to you

WHERE’D YOU GO, JOE - Phyllis Sinclair

He’d come and go and it was nice to see him - again

We’d never ask, and he’d never say where he’d been

Like an ice berg on the bay, he’d move with the tide too free to stay

Always went on his way, where’d you go, Joe

His eyes were brown but somehow they were green

They twinkled like the sun out on the rolling sea

When he smiled, he made me smile, and I always hoped that he’d stay awhile

Not put on another mile, where’d you go, Joe

He’d chop our wood and haul our chunks of coal

Always had a blazing fire in the old wood stove

Didn’t mind to sweep the floor, or fix the hinges on the cupboard door

We could’t ask for more from where’d you go, Joe

At night he’d tap his heels on the splintered floor,

He’d make us dance we’d beg him for more

Draw smoke from his wooden pipe, curl the smoke just watch our eyes

Where’d you go, you never wanted much

Just a place to lay your head, and stretch out - on our couch

A simple meal, and a friendly place to stay

Then be on your way



Then one day I’d come home and he’d be gone

He’d never leave a note, and we just - carried on

Like steam from the bay line train, he’d vanish the same way that he came

I never saw him again where’d you go, Joe

I hear he lies in a grave down by the shore

The whole town paid for the box that he couldn’t afford

A place where he could sleep, where he’d never have to work again to earn his keep

Free as he wanted to be where’d you go Joe

Where’d you go we never said good-bye

So you’ll never know what you meant - to this - little child

You never gave a dime but, you paid much more

Uneven score

SWEET MEMORIES - Phyllis Sinclair

Looked around for one last time

Closed the door to leave behind

Souvenirs inside this box

Made of wood and trusted talks

I’ll lay the key down on the floor

Where we swept out dust from unkind words

Window where we looked outside

To watch the world and days roll by

Sweet memories, sweet memories

I take with me

Remember how those creaky stairs

Told on your surprise, I knew you were there

Counter where bouquets you bought

Didn’t need a reason, they were just because

Front room hall that holds our laughs

Finger prints, photographs

Kitchen where we cooked up dreams

Planned our lives and recipes

Sweet memories, sweet memories

I take with me

It’s hard to say good-bye to what was good

Turn away from something out of a story book

Standing at the door we turn to leave

All of these

Sweet memories, sweet memories

Of you and me

I take with me

Will never leave

Sweet Memories