​"Ahri blew me away with her amazing voice and meaningful lyrics."  
​​- Alon Shalev, award-winning novelist

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​WINNER 
BEST JAZZ SONG
"Be Who You Are"

​HONORABLE MENTION
"Smitten" + "Thank You"

SMITTEN 
by Ahri Golden

Even though my bones are so tired
That I could fall asleep against the wall
My microcosmic world opens
When I take the time to be in awe
Of fleeting snapshots like a pearl
In this sublime sense of time 
I never knew what I was getting into 
Change is happening
Constantly before my eyes

I am smitten
I am smitten
I am smitten in love with you
There is nothing right now
I am thinking about
Other than this precious moment so true

The softness of your skin makes me tingle
The sense of you ignites my heart
Cocktail of emotion courses through my blood 
Administers a natural buzz

I am smitten
I am smitten
I am smitten in love with you
There is nothing right now
I am thinking about
Other than this precious moment so true

It doesn't negate the challenges 
Or remove the stains
I guess, yes
Madness is a part of the experience
In the midst of this delicious mess

I am smitten
I am smitten
I am smitten in love with you
There is nothing right now
I am thinking about
Other than this precious moment so true
I am smitten
I am smitten
I am smitten in love with you

BE WHO YOU ARE 
by Ahri Golden

What should I do
Where am I meant to go
How does this confusion 
Guide my safe journey home
How am I supposed to decide
Which direction to take
How to make a choice and then
Trust my fate
Can you relate

You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today

The way to navigate
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Be who you are
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Hear the sound of your North Star

In a snap zap let go
Or be trapped in this moment
Release attachment to what you can't control
In a zip blip of a mental trip
Notice how fear lives
In the mind
And courage lives in the body
Fear lives in the mind 
And courage lives in the body
So 

You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today
The way to navigate
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Be who you are
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Hear the sound of your North Star

Can I be my own superhero
Here to re-frame what holds me back
Be bold and open to find a deeper well
Of strength to light my path
So I say to myself over and over and over

You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today
You don't have to figure it all out today
The way to navigate
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Be who you are
Underneath everything that has ever been taught to you
Hear the sound of your North Star

I must be who I am
You must be who you are
I must be who I am
You must be who you are
Be who you are
Be who you are
Hear the sound of your North Star

THANK YOU 
by Ahri Golden

You are here with me
Even though you've passed on to the other side
I feel you so strongly
Every time I look into my children's eyes
You modeled to me
What it means to stand strong
As a matriarchal queen
You held the space for us
To share a glimpse 
Of who we were meant to be

Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for the gift of your life
Still alive in my veins
Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for giving me courage to know
It's gonna be ok

Said Polonius
"To thine own Self be true for then you cannot be false to anyone"
Especially to you
You taught me
To question
Everything I ever thought I knew
You inspired me to stay amazed at the ray of sun shining through clouds of gray hue
You

Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for the gift of your life
Still alive in my veins
Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for giving me courage to know
It's gonna be ok

One night you came into my dreams
And I asked you, "How was it to die?"
You told me, "I just let go." 
Then flashed me your radiant smile
From you to me our destiny 
Survives this family line
I lived inside your womb
Luminous forcefield so bright
Protected by love
Eternally, may you rest in peace

Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for the gift of your life
Still alive in my veins
Thank you for your love
Thank you for your grace
Thank you for giving me courage to know
It's gonna be better than ok

WE ARE WHAT WE ARE BECOMING
​by Ahri Golden

Love each other
In this life I know
If you take leaving off the table
And commit to seek mutual growth
This container becomes sacred
Shared shelter from the cold
Tend to the fire day to day while
Cultivating care for your souls

Keep it real
Everyday
When things get hard
Choose to stay
Say I'm sorry
When you are
We are what we are becoming
We are what we are becoming
Two souls matched to grow together
We are what we are becoming

Paint a vision on the canvas of your lives
Intend and then be flexible 
In the dance of compromise
Seems like a contradiction
This radical relational art
Your sole purpose on this earth
Is to nurture each other's hearts
Hey
Nurture each other's hearts
Ah
Nurture each other's hearts

Keep it real
Everyday
When things get hard
Choose to stay
Say I'm sorry
When you are
We are what we are becoming
We are what we are becoming
Two souls matched to grow together
We are what we are becoming

When the fire of constriction comes over you
And the wrath of projection rises up
Take it as a sign to search and find
What lives inside
Buried long ago
Hiding deep beneath the shiny glow
Unknown murky waters of the soul

Stand still
Do nothing
Breathe into the gripping tendency to repeat what you've seen
Dig deep
Your love is the key to unlock and release these held feelings
It's a healing beyond this life
So please

Keep it real
Everyday
When things get hard
Choose to stay
Say I'm sorry
When you are
We are what we are becoming
We are what we are becoming
Two souls matched to grow together
We are what we are becoming
Two souls matched to grow together
We are what we are becoming 
We are what we are becoming
We are what we are becoming

SENSES ARE TRUE 
by Ahri Golden

This morning is pure 
Taste of honey moments held in time
Smell the soup simmer on low
Through the night wake satisfied
Pitter patter sounds of feet sweet
Run into my room before sunlight
Climb in sugar rest your head 
Fall back asleep
Close your eyes
Simple just for now

Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to you
Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to me
Beginning with the first heartbeat

Primordial creatures
Brought forth as our teachers
Make us look in the mirror 
And stare a long long time
There's nowhere to hide
From onion layers identified
I'm determined to thrive
In this lifetime
Even with sting in my eyes
Complicated just for now

Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to you
Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to me
Beginning with the first heartbeat

Listen touch look smell taste
Listen touch look smell taste
Listen touch look smell taste
Listen touch look smell taste

Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to you
Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to me
Beginning with the first heartbeat

What keeps us safe from feeling pain?
Primitive brain shapes
From this question
Oh oh oh
The human condition is a survival system
That fights or flies away
Hey hey hey hey hey hey
We do what we must to preserve the sacred trust of contracts made long ago
So long ago when we were young
Now catch up with who we've become
Oh oh oh
Hold our own chin
Greet the allies within
Who ensure that we win
The battles with which we grapple
Oh oh oh
Receive a medal of earned dignity
Innate wisdom shines through the scars that used to bleed
Sign this treaty for surviving what seemed
Impossible
From there, love ourselves, just as we are
Flawed, wounded and holy.
Complete just for now

Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to you
Senses are true
Antennae of our being
Senses are true to me
Beginning with the first heartbeat

THE HEART 
by Ahri Golden

Way back in the beginning
When bang brought sky
Seeds burst forth
Cells connect
Cycles of life live and die
Lungs of this earth
Breathe inside blood
Pump flow into rhythm
Of how we know how to love

Let the heart lead the way
Let the heart lead the way, hey
Let the heart lead 
Let the heart lead 
Let the heart lead the way

Connection from the beginning
Forms who we are
Relinquish self-protection to reach our collective shining star
What can this earth come to be
If we shift our human frequency
Inspire the love that's meant to be
In a place of possibility

Let the heart lead the way
Let the heart lead the way, hey
Let the heart lead 
Let the heart lead 
Let the heart lead the way

What keeps us from this light
Are patterns of a wounded heart
Holographic pain passes on and on
Through the generations
But right now
Change starts here
I have become
Crystal clear
It's time to own my deepest fears
Tap into the ocean of ancestral tears
Of those who came before 
And through me
Birth into being
FREE

Let the heart lead the way
Through the eye of the storm
Let the heart lead the way
Into freedom
Let the heart lead the way
Fuel this life phenomenon
Let the heart lead the way
Be brave

TRUST MYSELF 
by Ahri Golden

Melt the voices
Inside my head
Gentle, it's ok
Tuck them to bed
Nurse the voices slowly
Let them be seen
All they ever wanted was to be free to be

Trust myself
I'm a primate
Trust myself
Mammal instincts
Trust myself
Re-learn to listen
Trust myself
To know what's needed right now

Another day done in the practice
As I look to the moon
This longest shortest time
Will be over soon
So soak in the poetry 
Of the pain in being stretched
Raise the next generation 
I am doing my best

Trust myself
I'm a primate
Trust myself
Mammal instincts
Trust myself
Re-learn to listen
Trust myself
To know what's needed right now

Buzz noise all around us
Buy this buy that 
To be prepared
Paralyzed
Distort the ability to tell
What is real and what is here
The only way to know
Is to slow way down
Shhhhhhhhhhh
Mama listen
(scat)

I am a different woman
Thank who I thought I was
Salute all people of this world 
Learning to trust ourselves, hey hey
We are primates
Trust ourselves
Mammal instincts
Trust ourselves
Re-learn to listen
Trust ourselves
To know what's needed right now
To know what's needed right now
To know what's needed right now

IT IS WHAT IT IS 
by Ahri Golden

Take a deep breath
And be with this reality
Yet let's do the work to understand our lives
And live into our dreams
What seems isn't the whole picture
Of what is going on
Nuances of internal life
Are neither right or wrong

It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is

Accept the situation
Yet know what you can change
Discern the difference
And expand to reach 
Far beyond your range
Untangle perceived limits
Of your comfort zone
Cross a threshold in your flesh and bones
To the truth of your own soul

It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is

May you always have what you need
And never have to need what you want
Strive to live an inspired life
By appreciating what you've got
It's a paradox to be with what is
Yet be clear when you are done
Keep your finger on the pulse 
To track and learn from 
This ancient human conundrum
It brings on transformation

Caterpillar into butterfly
Spread your wings 
Into the sky
Through circles of immortal time
Where nothing begins and nothing dies
Only changes form before our eyes
Wide

Open deeper
To what wants to swallow us whole
Open deeper
To that which compels our soul
Open deeper 
To becoming accountable
Open deeper 
To deliver us all the way home

But until then....

It is what it is
Gut-wrenching determination
It is what it is
Sweet as molasses syrup
It is what it is
Holding opposites all the time
It is what it is
Capacity grows when you know you don't know

It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is
Whatever it is it is
It is what it is

I SEE MYSELF IN YOU 
by Ahri Golden

Who are you? Who are you? What have you been through? What drives you and why?

I want to listen to 
What you have to say
We may experience 
The world in different ways
That doesn't mean 
We can't find a middle place
To relate through our shared humanity

I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me

Ideas, words and actions
shape our lives.
This is our moment 
To dare to be alive.
Together in this great mystery
Can we visualize
Sitting face to face to look into each other's eyes?

I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me

I have your back
Lean into me
And I'll do the same
We can choose to unmask our perpetuating
Culture of shame
There is no one to blame
Change the rules of this game
I must take back my life
Vulnerability
In the space between you and me
Vulnerability is power
Vulnerability in the space between you and me
Vulnerability is the opposite of weak

I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me
I see myself in you
You see yourself in me, eye

MOM ENOUGH 
by Ahri Golden

Unravel truth covered up like hot sun on snow 
So take hold of what is ripe
And ready to let go
Make room for more fruit to yield into change
My life feels like the story 
Of what comes when we wait
Patience is purposeful
To bring forth the questions

Am I mom enough?
Yes I am 
And you are
Am I strong enough?
To listen to my gut
Am I wise enough?
To ask for what I need
Am I enough?
Yes I am 
And you are
Yes you are
Yes we are

Initiated into new form
Cocoon cracks open to light
I am re-born, worn, no more room to fight
Who I was born to become
Is that who I am
Stripped of ego to the core
Reveals a new beginning

Am I mom enough?
Yes I am 
And you are
Am I strong enough?
To listen to my gut
Am I wise enough?
To ask for what I need
Am I enough?
Yes I am 
And you are
Yes you are
Yes we are

Invisible engine of the world is here
Ready to be revealed 
So the human race can start to heal
Invisible engine of the world is here
Ready to be revealed 
So the human race can start to healInvisible engine of the world is here
Ready to be revealed 
So the human race can start to heal
Invisible engine of the world is here
Ready to be revealed 
So the human race can start to heal

But first let's make a deal
And call a spade a spade
Cease the judgment between us
Quest to feel our internal pain
We are vulnerable 
We are vulnerable
Behind closed doors
When it's safe to be we can receive
The message we need most
Stand together in our sisterhood
Re-think the female force
Globally be revered as the bearers 
Of creative source

I am mom enough
Yes I am and you are
I am strong enough
To listen to my gut
I am wise enough
To ask for what I need
I am enough
Yes I am and you are
Yes you are yes we are
Yes we are, yes we are
For the future

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