Hymn
1
All is well, I sang, little
learning how to do the harmony parts,
Saturday church choir, All is well
the blue sparrow babies have hatched
and we have kept the cats
away thus far
and one day everyone decides
to bale their hay
every single field down
all at once everyone
all at once
my friend is sick
sick and far away and I hear
will die and I
can’t get my head
big enough to think it through
All is well, I sang, All is well
tho hard to you
2
So I wrote another friend
a goat on a spit for you, Brenda
we took a photo, I said, transcribed,
put it down, list, list,
sent a postcard
is it getting hot in here
3
I am cycling in the mountains
here is what I see
my arms stretched out in my shadow
three horses are facing away
the cows have got out, one white
excuse me while I take this hill
4
don’t you call coward on me
I put the knife through the fish’s skull
once caught, all alone,
into its hot, hot brain, again, again
to be sure it’s just
here lies / the Idaho kid
the only time / he ever did
said bird bird bird bird in Pisa
counted for comfort
because everyone needs a latch
comfort, comfort
knife caught hold
in a cliff
and if I die, I sang, and if I die
5
I can’t name my friend
here a name too big
so name another, a dear
6
the spit is picking up, Brenda
I have a bug in my eye
I can ride a hill down w/ no breaks now
my one eye is streaming from the bug
the spit is turning fast, Brenda
a knife to the brain is quicker
than a whack, whack, more humane
I cannot get it in my head
I see a blue bird, a bale,
a white cow
every single field down
Happy day, I sang, All is well
every single thing down, picking up
Postcard |
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