REVIVAL

There was a time when the smell

Of new cut grass brought joy

When in the spring you forked the hay

And stacked it neatly in the corner of the 

Barn where your first dog was eaten by flies

Back before you knew the soil 

Demanded so much.

 

                   [take pictures of tree limbs]

 

In the field raise up the tent

Under the tent set up a typewriter

Into the typewriter feed white sheets 

Type words to change the world

Change the world for those who hurt,

And when you hurt, bite twice as hard(for this is all they know)

And when you bite, catch all the blood 

And spread the blood over the doorway.

 

                                     [take pictures of churches]

 

And when the nation’s sins bring storms, 

Use your feet to hold the side (the tent wants to collapse)

And when the lightning crashes the trees

Lie to the children and say they’re safe.

And when the limbs crack, say Look! The Sun, it Rises!

And when the lamp dies, pretend you haven’t been swallowed

By God the whale.

 

                                                 [take pictures of tombstones]