In The After
I welcome the rain
Despite the threat
Of being whipped and bit
By its windy slap
And cold liquid thumbtacks;
I stand bare, firmly fixed, ready
Eyes on the roiling clouds
Because I know the lush growth
That comes, quietly unfolding
In The After.
9.30.2006
Took me all this time to hear what you’re saying: hours and hours, rereading over and over.
I was due to respond, “It wasn’t til I stood to push you over that I realised you’d already broken every last one of my bones.”
That would be evidence of me riding the alltogether incorrect train. Instead, my only response is to gaze in wonder.
Never have I met someone so capable of leading me to truths I already knew, but worked against, and will continue to work against.
“This is an old song
These are old blues
And this is not my tune
But it’s mine to use…
And down where I darn with the milk-eyed mender
You and I, and a love so tender
Is stretched-on the hoop where I stitch-this addage
“Bless her house and her heart so savage.”
And all that I want
And all that I need
And all that I’ve got
Is scattered like seed
And all that I knew
Is moving away from me
And all that I know
Is blowing like tumbleweed…
And the love we hold
And the love we spurn
Will never grow cold
Only taciturn…”
Sadie – Joanna Newsom
9.30.2006
I had just listened to a radio program devoted to the career of John Prine when I turned to your poem. A comparison with his songs is inevitable , and it lies in your common ability to surprise and illuminate with a turn of phrase. You didn’t go for the idea of purification as a washing away of dirt or corruption; instead you showed renewal. It is like saying yes when you’re expected to say no. Just beautiful. Thanks so much.
9.30.2006
christopher, I always love when I ding your insides, because i feel like you give both honest praise and critique. I’m sorry we didn’t get to speak, and I’ll phone again soon(ish). The comparison to John Prine is massively humbling, because I think him a simple sort of genius, and very accessible:
“We said our goodbyes long ago
Never thinking wed miss each other so
All the memories we cant leave behind
Oh, we must have been out of our minds”
Anon:
I promise to bleed little when you put a fist in my face as long as you agree to keep breathing when I snap up the choke chain. We are both terrible and great all at once, the end.
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