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Blessed is the Man

by Dale Carl Fredrickson

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Blessed is the man is the story of how men can grow their capacity for mutual LOVE and become openhearted, emotionally expressive, and relationally connected. It challenges toxic masculinity that has caused woman and children harm through unchecked anger, emotional repression, and self-reliant pride. This album uses poetry and the sounds of banjos, mandolins, saxophones, violins, and guitars to inspire men (and those who care about men) to let LOVE shape their lives and write their stories.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Blessed is the Man 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.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 7 Dale Carl Fredrickson releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Blessed is the Man, On Wounds & Wonder, Healing & Aching, Call & Response, Not Like Mine, Tethered, and Keeping Pulse. , and , .

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1.
Blessed is the man Who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and in the way of sinners has not stood, and in the seat of scoffers has not sat. But in the law of YHWH is his delight, and on his law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, which brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and all that he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For YHWH knows the way of the righteous; but the way of the wicked shall perish. —Psalm 1 *American Literary Edition (based on the1901 ASV)
2.
It’s the longest night of my life the winter’s solstice of this year I’ve felt the scrape of strife but i’m a hard man with no tears my dreams are dusty and shallow the river of imagination dried up my fields unplanted and fallow the heart of desire burned out I’ve been careless and forgotten liquid apathy I’ve been drinking i’m miles from compassion I’ve made this road I’m walking Blessed is the man Blessed is the man Who fails and stumbles Who learns love is without end Who is strong and humble Who feels and finds himself again Please plant him near the river Please plant him near the river As the ancient poem foretold Please plant him near the river May peace within him grow i’ve suppressed my desire for affection denial and withdrawal my safe high tower i’ve chased the noose of perfection and tasted the temptation of fisted power i’ve felt the kisses of betrayal the empty presence of wounded men i’ve buried grief to avoid what’s painful raging anger fills me again, again the ones i love the most are victims my will to grow a trembling amen the words ‘i’m sorry’ are difficult wisdomk change doesn’t come easy for hard men Blessed is the man Blessed is the man Who fails and stumbles Who learns love is without end Who is strong and humble Who feels and finds himself again Please plant him near the river Please plant him near the river As the ancient poem foretold Please plant him near the river May peace within him grow it’s time to pour the bottles out drop all that hasn’t served me well to give up these confining doubts to feel each hot tear that falls please plant me near the river please plant me near the river source of courage and devotion where life begins and ends where rising love breaks like an ocean bring me back to life again? please plant me near the river i want to feel alive again i’m a hard man with no tears Blessed is the man Blessed is the man Who fails and stumbles Who learns love is without end Who is strong and humble Who feels and finds himself again Please plant him near the river Please plant him near the river As the ancient poem foretold Please plant him near the river May peace within him grow
3.
The burden that buries men the day of my first bike crash me all black-eyed, bruised and needing stitches, he all beer-breathed and tall “toughen up,” he insisted. the day of the championship i dribbled right then left bated breath two seconds left then shouts of joy when i scored the winning shot but he didn’t show and never called words like proud and well done he never spoke words like i’m sorry he never wrote what i wanted from him were tools he didn’t own i promised myself i’d never be like my dad i swore i wouldn’t follow his steps live your life bold hard proud brazen and unflinching man up, don’t be sorry his hollow laugh echos in my head the burdens of a father and a son the gravity of history skin & bones shouldering this story he died with his dried up commitments, left me with my root-withering bitterness. i wear my promise over my heart like a medal i whisper i’m not like you over his grave but i have his skin and bones and i couldn’t change tired from work distant and indifferent my son teary-eyed and lanky You forgot to pick me up and I waited for hours. seared from his accusation the realization, a painful truth: I wasn’t there when he needed me. i’m terrified somehow i’ve become my dad my body trembling eyes low he’s a warm planet holding my burdened body in his orbit A baptism of hot tears on my neck
4.
“Women and men alike in our culture spend very little time encouraging males to learn to love. Even the women who are pissed off at men, women most of whom are not and maybe never will be feminist, use their anger to avoid being truly committed to helping create a world where males of all ages can know love. And there remains a small strain of feminist thinkers who feel strongly that they have given all they want to give to men; they are concerned solely with improving the collective welfare of women. Yet life has shown me that any time a single male dares to transgress patriarchal boundaries in order to love, the lives of women, men, and children are fundamentally changed for the better.” bell hooks, “The Will to Change.” pg. 10-11
5.
On this night, i wonder (Joseph’s questions) nine months long i wonder as the sun falls behind the hills as i lay beside you between us a cool distance are we fallen stars or something else? nine months long i wonder as the sun falls behind the hills as i lay beside you morning sicknesses your skin stretches shall we share one more snack? while you snore i smile are you dreaming about this unlikely child? is he a constellation? even as you sleep my queen your face is beaming will i ever understand? nine months long i wonder as the sun falls behind the hills as i lay beside you am i an icy comet callous and indifferent? how have i missed this sparkling in your eyes my brave fiancée have you gifted the moon a body the sun a home to rest? as planets of the universe hold their breath how long will you carry the weight of light and darkness? nine long months i wonder as the sun falls behind the hills as i lay beside you is your womb the breaking dawn a growing universe of affection? are you the mother of creation where connection and communion are born? is your baby son a supernova curving space and time cosmic dust that unsettles and outshines? is he a searchlight a sunbeam a light house that seeks and finds can he seek and find? women whose tears never end men who bury their hearts the greedy the blood thirsty the carelessness of daughters and sons the ignorance of kings and kingdoms will he seek and find will he seek and find the wondering ones? on this night i wonder as the sun falls behind the hills as i lay beside you from your body the newborn is nursing a mother and a son sacred lanterns beautiful ones will I ever understand? is knowing you an act of vulnerability an exposing of oneself to a horizon of unknowns a cosmos that is far and wide and forever opening? is this the great mystery: the more i love you the more i love this star child the one who seeks and finds my eyes are blinded by promises of wonder and the beauty of the world?
6.
7.
Remember the first time Years of haunting loneliness of seeking and hiding of desperate wanting before thousands of silent snowflakes on Larimer street whirl and twirl in the light of the moon. My hands are reaching the stitched flowers on the sides of your dress your fingers brush my cheeks my neck your lips are kissing mine your lips are kissing mine for the first time. Your warmth is a brave home for my tremble. Through a million acts of unending vulnerabilities i want our lips to say hello and smile again on our wedding day late nights and early mornings labor and delivery hard conversations dishes and laundry brussel sprouts and bacon change and transitions everynight i want to kiss you like the first time everynight as snowflakes fall as we grow old i want to place my hands on your body and whisper remember the first time your lips are kissing mine.
8.
The weight of love (Peter’s story) i am a storm chaser i am a raging sea of curiosity i am a strong wind of passion and action i’ve built my life on the next catch marketplace profits and the mysteries of the sea my net worth i keep casting nets my last payload i’m a half a lake ahead don’t ask me to make sense of my feelings i am my father’s son i’m okay i’m okay i say over and over especially when no one is listening he was the wind that cut through the aroma of dead fish and seaweed he said to me “you are a boulder” i laughed and burst out “one who sinks” he smiled and said “i hope so” “not today” i threw back his friendship is a full sail a snapping wind of discomfort a smooth breeze of rest he is the surging waves unsettling my sailing seas he called me a ‘rock’ i’m treading water i’m afraid of drowning i’m scared of losing what keeps me afloat my anchors of small-minded prejudice my closed fists of comfort and confidence II. when they came to sink him with their snares their unreflective fears and raging need for conformity i raised my voice ‘you are not taking him’ your ear for my heart my hands shake my sword falls again and again i’m caught by the words of his net my promises are hot air rising my words are snagged wings and my ears have rocks in them the powers that be shouted ‘sedition’ and ‘blasphemy’ an us versus them blindness anger and violence they tore apart his body they tore apart his body they tore apart his body as i watched rubbing my eyes with trembling lips i said “i don’t know him i don’t know him i don’t know him” three times leave me alone i’m just like them i am a shipwreck my ears are ringing i am a coward i am a castaway my name is petrified there’s no time for grieving i’m going fishing III. on the shoreline of shattered seashells and broken starfish the risen one called “hey boulder” he said my heart’s in my sandals i’m sinking with everyone who feels the weight of swords wielded of promises broken of mistakes and betrayals with anointing oil on his lips over a simple breakfast he asked “do you love me? do you love me? do you love me?” three times infinity
9.
The weight of love (A song of praise) the weight of love upends the earth the place of death a great rebirth hallelujah (4x) drowning men can feel within silenced women speak again hallelujah (4x) all the pride and apathy awakens now to empathy hallelujah hallelujah under the weight a river’s crossed through the pain and tempest toss the risen one has found his sinking daughters and sons hallelujah hallelujah
10.
you chose love you chose love and the pain that swells through the rivers of your body the ache that throbs on the shores of your mind is the proof you dove and crashed in an unpredictable ocean and the grief that flows to the bones is the witness you are learning that this is love to be tossed by the undercurrents of compassion and feel the anguish of others to be moved by the peculiar waves of grace and taste the gritty salt water to stand under a sky of mystery and receive as a gift the constellations you suffer because you care you suffer because you care you suffer because you care an ocean of love grows within you your internal is the groundswell of the eternal your body is the tide of God’s affection you are learning that love is a baptism an immersion of self into the murky depths clothed with nothing but prayer and presence and a simple hope that you can bless the life of another on the great horizon your heart’s compass is set where the sun and moon kiss the waters edge where everything belongs where no one is alone you are alive because you chose love sing and sink and sail again.
11.
My Beautiful Boy My beautiful boy, masculinity is not a bumper sticker of cliché’s but an epic poem that you must write and rewrite. i need to say to you: don’t settle for the comfort of easy answers. People will try to box you in and stifle the air you breathe. Life as a caged bird breeds anger, resentment, and apathy. Your mom and i want more for you: caged birds are not free. II. My beautiful boy, everything worthwhile is uncomfortable. Compassionate integrity requires great effort. i need to say to you: don’t settle for the comfort of easy answers. Some crown anger and condone male violence. Remember you’re storied into a current of history where to feel alive the muscles of your body must learn when to resist and when to rest. Feel the winds of change trade your cage for wings and become a flesh and blood eucharist. III. My beautiful boy, i won’t always be here your hands the tiny fingers i have held for 13 years are slipping from mine. i need to say to you: with great passion and action with two measures of tenderness empower the breathe and clay of your body to be a eucharist with wings give and receive nurture deep connections break and bless live with the questions. Blessed is the man blessed is the man my beautiful boy who writes his story who finds his strength through mountains and seas of vulnerable love.
12.
Blessed is the One Blessed is the One Who fails and stumbles Who learns love is without end Who is strong and humble Who feels and finds themselves again Please plant them near the river Please plant them near the river As the ancient poem foretold Please plant them near the river May peace within them grow --Dale Carl Fredrickson

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released July 24, 2020

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Dale Carl Fredrickson Denver, Colorado

Dale is a poet from Denver, Colorado. He’d like to inspire the entire world but finds that inspiring himself and his family and friends is work enough. He writes and speaks about beauty and misery and his favorite story is the one about how love surprises us in the end. He fails a lot. On his best days, he lives by Samuel Beckett’s motto, “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” ... more

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