I wrote American Body as a release. An almost prayer as we deal with repeated tragedies and a country that wants to wrest itself in two. In the second verse, before the chorus, I wrote

"...And all these things 
Make me believe 
We can’t win 
When they’re breaking bones 
Just to watch them bend..."

As I have begun to perform this song live, a piece of me wants to leave out the "we can't win." Try as I might, I can't seem to shake my hopefulness. Hoping against hope that we, as people, can find a way to be honest and heal whatever is ailing us. It seems that war is eternal. Even folk tales of gods and goddesses are violent and destructive. What if all our tales of god were about peace. Would we be different?