THIS IS THE VENUE

Apocalypse

by: Karisha Longaker

Good God if it’s the end of the world 

Tell me it is also a beginning

Oh and let love reveal 

What is at the heart here for learning

Wind and rain, hurricanes 

While wild fires are burning

With these hands, and with heart

Let us serve this artful uprising

Broken systems, massive machines

Dirty water, we’re coming clean 

What was hidden now be seen

Here to grow us, set us free

Good God if it’s the end of the world 

Tell me it is also a beginning

Oh and let love reveal 

What is at the heart here for learning

To lay bare, to uncover

To disclose, to discover 

Let’s take time with one another

Find what’s real, beneath this armor

Waking Time

by: Karisha Longaker and Sorah Nutting

How we gonna do this thing? How we gonna all get free?

With the pain of the past and these broken family trees

Sometimes it hurts to be alive

I want more than to survive

But did you notice? Can you see? 

There is life here for you and me.. Are you surprised? 

You will find yourself in the waking time

Will you walk with me? I need your hand

I am never not with you my friend 

No beginning no end 

Send down any little kindness here, any little ray of light

Any little lightning clarity and strength to scale these heights

So much madness stacked up over time 

It’s a mighty steep climb 

But there are secret mysteries to unveil

Share the histories, tell the tale, Open your eyes

Find out for yourself in the waking time 

Everything will change right before you

Will you walk with me? I need your hand 

I am never not with you my friend 

No beginning no end

I surrender, I rebel, I’m in heaven, I’m in hell..

Here we go ‘round again 

I’m so glad you’re here with me my friend

I don’t want a life without you

Send down (Did you notice?)

Any little kindness here (Can you see?)

Any little ray of light (There is life here for you and me)

Any little lightning clarity and strength to scale these heights 

So much madness.. Stacked up over time (Are you surprised?)

You will find yourself in the waking time (It’s a mighty steep climb)

Find out for yourself in the waking time (open our eyes)

Any little kindness here… Any little ray of light… 

Dear Delicious

by: Sorah Nutting

Dear delicious life, how to begin?

This love letter to you, my closest of kin

I will trust, I will trust, let the words saunter in

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

Dear delicious life, I do attest 

To rise every day and do my very best 

I will falter, I am human, born of supple flesh

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

And I will learn myself, day by day

Walk each step with integrity in these medicine ways

Bow down, bow down, if that’s what it takes

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

I am committed and this juicyness is mine 

Dear delicious life, I am impressed 

By this shadow dancing lady inside my chest

I will learn how to tango, or surrender at best

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

And I will learn myself, day by day

Walk each step with integrity in these medicine ways

Bow down, bow down, if that’s what it takes

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

I am committed and this juicyness is mine 

Dear delicious life, I do conclude 

With a gesture of thanks and gratitude 

And I will root down, root down, I am held by you

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

And I will learn myself, day by day

Walk each step with integrity in these medicine ways

Bow down, bow down, if that’s what it takes

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

I am committed and this juicyness is mine

Way of the World

by: Sorah Nutting, Karisha Longaker and Lydia Violet Harutoonian

I come here unbound and untethered

Yet inextricably tied to it all

I am broken and whole and I am to deliver

 The best that I can while I’m here ‘fore I fall yeah 

Safety in the bedroom, safety on the city streets 

Every woman free to show her face and speak, speak. 

We can not go back there to a world of silencing 

Everyone free, everyone free.. Yeahhhh… 

Zan, Zendegi, Azadi ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Zan, Zendegi, Azadi ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

I am living while dying, ever more faithful, less lying 

Learning to speak to the bones 

Thank you for the lessons, I am counting my blessings 

Some of which are so uncomfortable 

To the heart, and the mind, and the feet and the thighs 

and the every breath a sovereign kind 

In your skin, in your smile, in your bones, in your style

For the right to be you, the right to be you, no compromise 

Zan, Zendegi, Azadi ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Zan, Zendegi, Azadi ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

What is this way of the world that you speak of? 

As if it were yours to control

I said the way of the world is the way we create it, 

and create it together we will while we’re still here.

To the weird and the wild and the quiet and the child 

And the honey, and the dew, and the lover and the fool

All of this is you, all of this is you

In this game of liberation, our names we are remembering. 

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi 

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi                                                              

I come here unbound and untethered

Yet inextricably tied to it all. I am broken and whole and I am to deliver

The best that I can while I’m here ‘fore I fall yeah. 

Safety in the bedroom, safety on the city streets

Every woman free to show her face and speak, speak

We can not go back there to a world of silencing

Everyone free, everyone free.. Yeahhhh… 

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi 

Women, Life, Freedom ~ Zan, Zendegi, Azadi                                                            

Through the Night

by: Sorah Nutting

I’ll see you through the night

I see you looking inward

With a spell cast in your hand

May your love and strength unite

You cry out to bring it forward 

To feed your people and this land. 

Ooohh.. Ohhh.. oooh. 

And in these days of war 

We’re hurting without answers

The shadow dance is everywhere

Please, please don’t dim your light

Dear ones, let's come together

Let’s come together. Let’s come together 

We need your prayers. 

Ooohh.. Ohhh.. oooh. 

Nowhere else to go, so why not just, just be here? 

Nowhere else to go, so why not just, just love here?

Nowhere else to go, so why not just, just breathe?

And in the morning light

Your gaze upon the farthest mountain

Open heart and empty hand 

Your commitment to your life

Your body as a fountain

It’s the dawning of a new day

And I can see it in your eyes. 

Ooohhh… Ooohhh. Ooooohhh… Ooohhh… 

Nowhere else to go, so why not just, just be here?

Nowhere else to go, so why not just, just love here?

There’s nowhere else to go, so why not just, just breath?

La da da da dai, La da da da dai. La da da dai dai la dai dai. (2x)

Oohhhh… Ooohhh….Ooooohh, oohhh. (2x) fade out.

Wild for Sienna

by: Sorah Nutting

Wild, you’ve got Spirit child, wild unto yourself 

Alive, I can feel it child, joy is your mission here. 

Sienna, your shimmer is the glisten on a moonlit stream 

A horse’s mane, first star in the East 

You’re moving in style with laughter, unbridled and at ease

Wild one, teach us what it means to be free

Wild, you’ve got Spirit child, wild unto yourself. 

Alive, I can feel it child, joy is your mission here. 

There are no limits to what can move through ya

Possibilities endless, go and do what you’re meant to do

Oh it don’t matter what anyone may say 

We’re seeing you through this life, a-a-nd loving you all the way.

Sing it out, sing it out, sing it out, sing it out

Dream it in, dream it in. Let the magic begin.(3x) 

Ahhhh…. Ooohhhh

Wild, you’ve got Spirit child, wild unto yourself 

Alive, I can feel it child, joy is your mission here. 

So Beautiful

by: Karisha Longaker

Wander Wild One, wander wherever you need to go

Give your all and all and receive all that you need to grow

Give, give, give, give from your very heart

Make love, love, love, love, make love your art

I…. I….. Do believe this could be beautiful

Lean in, reach out, give it everything you have

Keep opening, opening, opening, opening to this unknown path 

Make it all you can and take it as far as you need to go

To learn learn, learn, learn, all that you need to know

How do I do what I do when I do what I do?

In a way that feels good

How do I do what I do when I do what I do?

In a way that feels good

I….. I….. Do believe this could be beautiful

Recall, respect, stand upright and erect in this my hollow bone

Both strong and flexible, I dare direct and give way to the flow

From my hands to my heart, from my head to my legs 

And everything in between, my own

My body, my art, I dare to make love me my one and only home

How do I do what I do when I do what I do?

In a way that feels good

How do I do what I do when I do what I do?

In a way that feels good

I….. I….. Do believe this could be beautiful

Rock This Boat

by: Karisha Longaker

Where we can dive in the darkness

Where there are waves on the shore

Where we belong and we’re sovereign

I call it Love, I call it Love

Where we dare wade in the water

Where there are hearts in our hands

Where there is willingness to not know

I call it Love, I call it Love

Can I push against you here? 

Will we bend or break in fear? 

Can we rock this boat to find

We’re still in it all the while?

Where there is want for the learning

Where there is “tell me once more”

Where there is mutual tending 

I call it Love, I call it Love

Can I push against you here? 

Will we bend or break in fear? 

Can we rock this boat to find

We’re still in it all the while?

Hallelujah

by: Sorah Nutting and Karisha Longaker

Every time I feel this way

This old familiar sinking

I will lay my troubles down by the water

Where the river will never run dry

Hallelujah, Hallelujah 

(I’m gonna let myself be lifted, I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

Hallelujah (I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

By and by

I will lay my troubles down by the water

Where the river will never run dry

It’s been said and I do believe

As you ask, so shall you receive

So take from me these troubles

Bring me sweet release

Where the river will never run dry

Hallelujah Hallelujah 

(I’m gonna let myself be lifted, I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

Hallelujah (I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

By and by

I will lay my troubles down by the water

Where the river will never run dry

There is a river in this heart of hearts

With a knowingness of my highest good

I am willing, I will do my part

Where the river will never run dry

Hallelujah Hallelujah 

(I’m gonna let myself be lifted, I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

Hallelujah (I’m gonna let myself be lifted)

By and by

I will lay my troubles down by the water

Where the river will never run dry

Where the river will never run dry

This river will never run dry