Talkin' Differences in Sexes

Ok folks, it’s plain to see, that I’m talkin’ differences ‘tween you and me.
Or should I say them and us, you know vagina versus the old penis.
I’ve been around a time or two, enough to see a closet full of shoes
But when I went to write ‘em down, I was worried to be shipped out of town.
You know Rush Limbaugh style, angry, confused, blabbering all the while.

Now this shouldn’t be an editorial bit, so I used THE google and McCained it.
You know in this digital age, you just search and copy some body else’s page.
So armed with a laptop and coffee, I got my windows to look at me.
Point and click info by the ton, ohhhh better put the adult filters on.
Just incase you try this at home, don’t try that with thing with foam.

Back to work and just like I thought, lists and lists of haves and have nots.
Some pretty scientific stuff, when I thought camo versus pink fluff.
There’s left brain / right brain, and why women explain and explain
There’s x y, mars and venus, and oh yeah then right back to the penis
So who here before the age nine, played you show me your I’ll show you mine?

Mumble… after age nine… hmmm look me up sometime….

Hair style is difference I relate, hell mine been the same since 8.
Yes all that time to get ready, and you just better notice Freddy.
She’s worked hard at getting it just right, even if it’s a bun pulled tight.
Darlin you look good tonight, no, no really I meant outta sight.
Sure the game is on, but I looked at you really, really, really.. hey he’s gone.

So if I make it through this song, and married to my favorite one.
It just means that difference attract, and then find a way to react.
Most women are saints you know, and successful guys will surely show
Their pride and joy that brings them dinner, after they said she looks thinner
Yes indeed, I meant every word, thanks for the dinner hun.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs
Many thanks to Woody Guthrie and Charlie Maguire for inspiration.

Ode to Josie

Ring around the rosie
A bouquet of posies
For a girl named Josie.

Ah she smiles as she’s heard
These lines til they’re absurd
Maybe she relishes each word.

Yes indeed we overlook
Each “by hook and by crook”
As simply gobbly gook

But they are threaded in
Yes much to our chagrin
As just part of our skin.

So with a wink and smirk
Josie kept right to work
Ignoring this old jerk.

‘til next time that is… HA.

© Dave Schipper 2009 Rose Riversongs.

Meander..

I meander down these streets
Soaking up the history
This little river town is home
It’s beauty is before me.

There were no building rules then
Do whatever that was up your hat.
Funny, just like God did with us
“Let’s try something like that!”

As I do with the people I meet
I peer deep in the house’s eyes
To find the brilliance or darkness
No facts here, but I editorialize.

The lawn unkempt and broken panes,
I could really restore her.
A tiny bungalow with cool back deck
I absolutely adore her.

A grand old two story brick,
Now this one intimidates me
A garden and fat cat in the window,
I wish there was room for me.

Life is too short to waste
But if meander you way thru
You’ll have a chance to catch life
From a character or two.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs…
Photo Credit

Ellie Mae.

The first time I saw you, I thought it was a dream
Dancin all around me, just like a Cajun Queen.
You were in my prayers Lord, protect her everyday
What a little darlin, that little Ellie Mae

Ellie Mae, keep that smile upon your face.
Ellie Mae, dance around the room with grace, Ellie Mae
Your God’s gift from above, I give my hand in love, Ellie Mae

So now some years have passed, that smile’s still on your face.
Still a little angel, full of love and grace.
All my prayers were answered, your with a boy today.
A strong and lovin’ man, for little Ellie Mae.

Ellie Mae, keep that smile upon your face.
Ellie Mae, dance around the room with grace, Ellie Mae
He’s God’s gift from above, give him your hand in love, Ellie Mae.

The next time I see you, a smile still on your face.
Your Sis on the banjo, new Dad upon the bass.
Harmonies a flowin’ and what a joy to say.
Twin girls ‘round the feet of little Ellie Mae.

Ellie Mae, keep that smile upon your face.
Ellie Mae, dance around the room with grace, Ellie Mae
Their God’s gift from above, give them your hand in love, Ellie Mae.

By Dave Schipper © 2004 Rose Riversongs

Dedicated to the inspiration to the song, Ellie Grace. Photo Credit

This Warehouse Girl

This warehouse girl
In her denim blues and t-shirt
She picks me up
Tapes my cardboard heart together

This warehouse girl
She catches the guys in deep stares
Brown days and nights
Oh she wasn’t handled with care

Punch me in
Pack me right
At shift’s end
Wrap me tight

This warehouse girl
She scanned my heart with dark eyes
And checked me out
Boxed up tightly with her smooth lies

This warehouse girl
Lives a life that others whisper
She ships me out
Down the line to a new lover

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs

photo credit

Interstate 80

Interstate 80 by Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

The prairie grass is bendin in the wind as we roll by
The sign on the billboard says buddy stop in a mile
Take your shoes off, kick back and rest for a while.
Your on vacation, no questions, just smiles

Interstate 80
What’s your hurry
The sign says 65
Interstate 80
Where’s exit 40?
Fifteen miles after 55.

Used to be more stressful ridin’ shot gun with the lady
Preteens in the back picking fights and acting caddy
Now classic music reminds us of actin’s shaddy
Late nights out in the back and hidin from your daddy.

Interstate 80
What’s your hurry
The sign says 65
Interstate 80
Where’s your 10/40
ARP hell yes I’m 55





We roll into the Cracker Barrel for some cheesy potaoes
Fried okra, chicken fried steak and hot cup of joe.
The waitress calls us hun and asks where we’re from
Down the road a piece, and she has friend in very same town.

Interstate 80
What’s your hurry
The sign says 65
Interstate 80
My eye sites blurry
Motel 6 exit 35.

Within and around you

God is love and God is grace,
And I see her in your face.
Yet the devil sure can dance
And I see him in your glance.

Painted evenings, misty morns
A veiled glimpse beauty born
Within and around you.

A spark and wild flames ignite
With no shame I lose that fight
For solace in her soft fur
Until we both breathe and purr

Silent evenings, busy morns
The gift of grace you adorn
Within and around you.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs

when you...

When you play within the lines,
but dream outside them
Then you harvest a wild imagination.

When you smirk at someone
but long for their touch
Then you produce a fine tension.

When you stop for the night to ponder
but end up writing instead.
Then you write a prose for retention.

By Dave Schipper © 2009

God looked down...

God looked down on a little tribe in the desert
With infinite knowledge and perception,
God planted the seed of the Bible in Moses words.

The future would bring those to oppose
But God hoped in time the simple stories
Would be understood as words of prose.

The great beasts help form the planet
Yet to explain that to weak of heart
Would bring out another idol of granite.

Now he wonders about the black and white
Why do some believers never see gray
She hopes some day more will see the light

Dave Schipper © 2007

Folk Angel

Just a dead Sunday on a business trip
Found me in a park with my guitar
San Diego makes me feel like an old hick
I don’t care, just take a swig of something dark.

I grab a C chord and start a Greg Brown piece
Down the path I see blue eyes in a fine dopplebock
She passes, wow they could sell ads on those cheeks
Two steps along, she wirls around to look back

My innocent hands sweat and I expect a frown
She pops her ear buds out and smiles instead
“Were you just playing, “If I had known”?”
Ok smooth and graciously I say, “Yep”







She laughs to show me her ipod is playing “Early”
Surprised, “So you have great tastes for one so young”
“Oh I love listening to Greg when I’m lonely
For home back in Iowa or just my mum.”

“I know every Greg Brown song, True!
Now you, I’d expect a sappy Jack Johnson tune.”
That got us both laughing, I offered her a brew.
“Sure, but I really supposed to be back home soon.”

Stories shared about family’s divorce when she was one
Her dad ran off and made a success of himself.
“He sent checks but we were all but forgotten
I think Greg’s music saved mom’s mental health.”


I showed pictures of the family in Wisconsin
And recalled Greg in a chainsaw muscle shirt
“Aha” she blurted, “that was the reason”
Mom named me Steele, that’s it; it for sure.”

More common bonds formed like Bohemian roots
Both saw Greg and Garnett at the Great River Fest
Her mother brought him a jar of canned fruits
And Grandad’s Bluff provided plenty of rest.

We shared names, and myspace addresses
I mentioned my journey as a songwriter
“Let’s play the Poet Game behind the fences”
She winked, “Just kidding you could be my father”

An awkward silence followed, so I started playing.
We sang about that little Iowa town, “Early”
“It’s late, my roommate will start worrying.
You know if you were my Dad I’d love you dearly.”

She said, “If I had only known”
My real dad plays cool guitar, is cute
Aspires to sing and write like Master Brown
I’d howl to the moon, rooty toot toot.”

“You are a folk angel brought to me today.
We have to make this meeting only a start.”
She took my guitar and put it out of the way.
Kissed me whispering, “You sweet old fart”

Folk Angel by Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

San Diego park pic
Lips

Willow....

Willow look at yourself.
When you were born no one could have forseen.
You would turn out more like a scrub pine.

So you are not majestic.
Tall and stunning with long blonde branches
Hanging over a slow moving creek.

You live as a lone tree,
An individual on a grand mountain side.
Providing a source of life to many.

Willow you soften reality.
Basking in God’s glory, you’re a pillow
A small humble respite of joy.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs
Photo Credits

If I could...

If I could,
I would dress you.
The finest cotton
Soft peasant
Dress.

If I could,
I would help braid
Your silken hair
A expose your
Neck.

If I could,
I would kiss you
Once, twice, three times
Softly and longer each
Time.

Goodmorning
My love.


Dave Schipper © 2007 Rose Riversongs

The fog of life

The fog changed everything
There went the plan for easy drive
Eyes fixed, margins razor thin.
Not the moment he craved

The wipers worked like shit
Fluid and defrosters deployed
Almost resembled his life a bit
Both stuck in a cold humid void.

The rearview mirror had the same fog.
The bathroom mirror had the same boy.
Miles away from the last hug
But like that the fog lifts, oh the joy.

A two mile respite is okay
To a life of snippets and texts.
So seize the day they say
Drive out of the foggy complex.

By Dave Schipper © 2009 Rose Riversongs

Bottomshelf

I am a bottom shelf value
The large shampoo bottle
The roll of garbage bags.

There is no glitz packaging
That’d be nothing but trouble
Simple, just read my tag.

The Lord hid me down here
Knowing someone would look
To grab value that lasts

So just a polite word to all.
True love has no source book
Bend down, look, it goes fast.


Dave Schipper © 2008 Rose Riversongs
photo credit