New Old Ladder

Gonna have to get me a new old ladder
The one we’ve had I’m leaving you
The old new one we found wrapped up downstairs
And used to paint the ceiling trim

We used to paint the town the color
Of the barn hulking there, empty bird-spattered
The shattered stalls for the animal teams
The dreams of clover and chicken scratch

Did we really rescue that clichéd neighbor’s kitten?
Then sitting up there in the dark pine limbs
You glimpsed a nest we both thought long abandoned
Then standing, stretching spied a clutch of three blue eggs

I’m walking outside ’neath your chill window pane
The rain falls off the second-story eaves
My right sleeve’s wet though I’ve twisted back my shoulder
It’s colder than it would be if it were snowing

(repeat all)


Travelin’ Man

Whatever came of that travelin’ man?
Has a few keepsakes, fewer plans
Goes to the garden when his money is green
Has a few odd children he’s never seen

Man travelin’

Floats his own canoe you know he fires his own train
Flies in the gutter, sometimes runs down the drain
He dreams in gesture, he rises in blood
He falls uneasy, he rides in love

Man travelin’
Man travelin’

He dreams cinnamon, he dreams sage
Acts out his birth sometimes, never his age
He’s got a memory for tight spots and trends
And a few rough gems he calls his friends

Man travelin’
Man travelin’
Man travelin’

What’s left in the breadbox gets wrapped on the bone
He’s got a rough lover he calls home
He lives in her purse and those of two friends
He dreams everything he never spends

Man travelin’
Man travelin’
Man travelin’
Travelin’

He goes overland, he goes underground
Goes air and water stowaway – ’less ’n’ he’s found
He looks under rocks when the lookin’ is good
When the lookin’ is bad he looks misunderstood

Man travelin’
Man travelin’
Man travelin’
Travelin’
Travelin’, travelin’ man


Ginny Mean

Ginny Mean, what did I do to you?
Ginny Mean, what do I know?
Ginny Mean, mean what you say to me
Ginny mean baby, don’t let go—

Ginny Minx, you pull it out of me
Like a splinter greased in fat
Ginny Minx, running the farm for me
Running my trapline with the eye of a cat

I want your blind babies
I want your frying pan
I want to be your ball of fire
O Ginny, I want to be your burning man

Ginny Maiden, form up your squares for me
Build me a platform, make me a brand
Ginny Maiden, made in Japan for me
Shrunk in plastic, stuffed with spam

Ginny Mild, soap up your hands for me
Soap your swellings, soap mine too
Ginny Mild, fall in the can for me
Like I fall, baby, hard for you

You say woundsalt is a remedy
To quench the thirst within
You say thrown stones form a symphony
Like the rain on this tattered skin of tin

Ginny Martyr, bearing your cross for me
Bare it all, baby, all through the dark
Ginny Martyr, roll in the grass with me
I want to blast that egg right out of the park

Ginny Moist, let’s make some cake tonight
I’ll work the sponge, honey, you wield the toys
Ginny Moist box up your tears for me
Box my ears, baby, but don’t box this voice

Don’t care about your surname
Don’t care about your hound
Go tell all your long goodbyes
Long as you, Ginny, don’t make a sound

Ginny Mourningdove, polish my head for me
Buff it blooming brill as nacre and oil
Drain and fill it with my daily quart of medicine
And I’ll bow deep, milady, from you to the soil

Ginny Mark, mark how you sniff at me
You spray, baby, like a Gatling gun
Ginny Mark, you marked the man in me
Your turning from the man makes me a setting sun


My archipelago

My archipelago
My archipelago

The night is cold
The water, blacker yet
Night is cold
The water, blacker yet

The flight is swift
The fall, faster yet
The flight is swift
The fall, faster yet

Water laps
Laps after storm
The water laps
Laps after storm

Death is long
Song, stronger yet
Death is long
Song, stronger yet

My archipelago
My archipelago
My archipelago
My archipelago


Bars of Iron

Bars of iron, bars of steel
Two horses running through an open
Field of light, field edging pain
Two horses running through the driving
Rain fall down and down, without end
Rain let up a bit and then the rain fall down
Again

Fencepost Sandy, Fencepost Sue
Two inmates behind wet glass, nothin’ better to do
Fencepost Johnny, Fencepost Jill
Two horses running up that long grassy
Hill underwater, hill to some scrap of sun
Ride them slowly, ride them one
By one, by one

I am running to you, I am here
I am closing the gate, I am throwing up the window to next
Year of doubt, year of dicey bloom
We’re just two circling dogs, locked in
One tiny room

You’ve got your memory, you’ve got your particular grief
You’ve got grove and grove of elm and oak without a single leaf
You’ve got your féted history in patent black and white
You’ve got file and file of alibi to keep you afloat at night
You’ve got your flying jags of ice, you’ve got your little bloodfed fire
You’ve got your bars of steel, you’ve got
Bars of iron