- 1
La Dispute - Such Small Hands
- 2
La Dispute - The Last Lost Continent
- 3
La Dispute - King Park
- 4
La Dispute - The Castle Builders
- 5
La Dispute - Andria
- 6
La Dispute - Nobody, Not Even the Rain
- 7
La Dispute - I Shaved My Head
- 8
La Dispute - The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit
- 9
La Dispute - A Poem
- 10
La Dispute - All Our Bruised Bodies And The Whole Heart Shrinks
- 11
La Dispute - Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again
- 12
La Dispute - Then Again, Maybe You Were Right
- 13
La Dispute - A Broken Jar
- 14
La Dispute - Autofiction detail
- 15
La Dispute - Man With Hands And Ankles Bound
- 16
La Dispute - Nine
- 17
La Dispute - One
- 18
La Dispute - Safer in the Forest / Love Song for Poor Michigan
- 19
La Dispute - Woman (In Mirror)
- 20
La Dispute - A Word Of Welcome And Of Warning
- 21
La Dispute - Anxiety Panorama
- 22
La Dispute - Bury Your Flames
- 23
La Dispute - Damaged Goods
- 24
La Dispute - Fairmount
- 25
La Dispute - Footsteps At The Pond
- 26
La Dispute - Fulton Street I
- 27
La Dispute - Last Blues For Bloody Knuckles
- 28
La Dispute - Objects In Space
- 29
La Dispute - Sad Prayers For Guilty Bodies
- 30
La Dispute - Said the King To the River
- 31
La Dispute - Seven
- 32
La Dispute - St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues
- 33
La Dispute - Thirteen
- 34
La Dispute - Why It Scares Me
- 35
La Dispute - 35
- 36
La Dispute - A
- 37
La Dispute - A Departure
- 38
La Dispute - A Letter
- 39
La Dispute - Edit Your Hometown
- 40
La Dispute - Edward Benz, 27 Times
- 41
La Dispute - Eight
- 42
La Dispute - Eleven
- 43
La Dispute - Extraordinary Dinner Party
- 44
La Dispute - First Reactions After Falling Through the Ice
- 45
La Dispute - Five
- 46
La Dispute - For Mayor in Splitsville
- 47
La Dispute - Four
- 48
La Dispute - Fulton Street Ii
- 49
La Dispute - Future Wars
- 50
La Dispute - Harder Harmonies
- 51
La Dispute - He Is Here, He Is Not Afraid
- 52
La Dispute - How I Feel
- 53
La Dispute - Hudsonville Mi
- 54
La Dispute - I See Everything
- 55
La Dispute - In Northern Michigan
- 56
La Dispute - Last Blues
- 57
La Dispute - New Storms For Older Lovers
- 58
La Dispute - Only Everything Below
- 59
La Dispute - Rhodonite And Grief
- 60
La Dispute - Scenes from Highways 1981-2009
- 61
La Dispute - See You In Vancouver
- 62
La Dispute - Shall Never Lose It's Power
- 63
La Dispute - Six
- 64
La Dispute - Stay Happy There
- 65
La Dispute - Steve
- 66
La Dispute - Sunday Morning, At a Funeral
- 67
La Dispute - Ten
- 68
La Dispute - The Child We Lost
- 69
La Dispute - The Surgeon And The Scientist
- 70
La Dispute - There You Are (Hiding Place)
- 71
La Dispute - Three
- 72
La Dispute - To Withstand The Force Of Storms
- 73
La Dispute - Twas The Night Before Christmas
- 74
La Dispute - Twelve
- 75
La Dispute - Two
- 76
La Dispute - Untitled
- 77
La Dispute - View From Our Bedroom Window
- 78
La Dispute - Woman (Reading)
- 79
La Dispute - You And I In Unison
- 80
La Dispute - You Ascendant
St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues
La Dispute
So sweet the voices, sweep like leaves into the street
On eastern, a celebration carried on for God and hope and refuge
To keep each other, life; give shelter from the storm and keep warm
The congregation gathers outside in the parking lot, each service done
They keep the old hymn rolling on and on and
I see the scene in color each day driving out to eastown
That old abandoned church and have I gone the same sad way?
Have I gone the same sad way?
Through the sixties flourished and the seventies in flux
The eighties fluctuate each year unclear of when the money would dry up
And when the nineties violent crime and rising unemployment rates came by
That parking lot grew dim and thin of sinners and saints
Until the voices, unceasing, slowly faded to black
Until the weeds stormed the concrete from unattended cracks
It had to know, had to feel that glory never coming back
Like I could feel it when the passion left, the last of what I had
It had to know like I knew
And I can't find it still
Might not ever
Ten years now standing vacant
Ten years on empty, maybe more
Once held the faith of hundreds
Soon one more cell phone store
For years they gathered here
Inside the building sound and true
To sing their praises to a God that gave them hope
To carry on, to carry through
So, I've been thinking about that
Sometimes go slow when I drive by
How a home of stone and a house so holy
Grows so empty over time
What gave those people purpose
Past death approaching constantly
Now left to crumble slowly
Now left to wither with the weeds
Now left to ice and vandals
The advent candles long since gone
The old foundation shifting hard
The concrete overgrown, but
That stained-glass window sits untouched amongst the brickwork worn
A symbol of the beauty only perfect at that moment we were born
And just the other day I swear I saw a man there
Pulling weeds out of the concrete, sweeping up and patching cracks
I saw him lift a rag to wash the years of filth from off those windows
Made me wonder if there's anyone like that for you and me and
Anybody else who broke and lost hope
