listen to this record

 

listen to this record

her ghost is in the crackle

listen to her crackle

all up and down Chicago

listen to Chicago

the crackle of a record you've heard before

she ain't asking no one in particular

she is questioning the air

the crunch of thunder

the clarity of lightning

so we never forget

the old days 

when real men was

would listen to jazz

what it is 

what it is 

what it was 

stay up till dawn

then walk out of this place 

believing in ghosts

American ghosts outlasting 

their ramshackle castles

American ghosts out standing 

where their cities used to be

lost cities

[[ Global warming, pollution, and how we will appear to archaeologists. ]]

lost city 

under the sand

under a mile of pretty shiny glittery bright empty things

under a mountain of things

lost city 

under the sea

under the waves of a north pole, south pole, melting, burning

under the rising waves

I could not say their names

I do not have the tongue

I would not say their names

for fear of raising ghosts

lost city 

under the sky

under a cloud that will never go, ever grow, never blow away

under a cloud of gray

lost city 

under the bones

under a dry lake of everything eaten that could ever be eaten

under a bed of bones

I could not say their names

I do not have the tongue

I would not say their names

for fear of raising ghosts

animal ghosts in animal voices

lost planet 

under a spell

whirled away, world whirling, 

whirled away, world whirling, 

whirled away, world whirling, 

whirled away, whirling away

Imagined Geography 5: Vienna Song

this is Vienna

beneath this dome

under the car park

this is my home

hopping the turnstiles

dodging the landlord

looking for something

hidden here before

under Vienna

city in ruins

city of ghosts

all up in smoke

you take the fast train

nightime from Linz

something seen once

never seen since

not since Vienna

we kill all vampires

watch everyone around you

every soul you see

is shedding misery

we kill all vampires

every Saturday night

we take an antidote before we go

to prepare our souls for the fight

we resurrect our monsters

bring them back from the dead

to kill them one more time

we kill all vampires

every Saturday night

we push a cure as pure as we dare

to keep off the vampire's bite

when we are conjuring our own ghosts

out there in the back

we reach way way down 

we reach way way down into our killer kits

and prepare for attack

we kill all vampires

every Saturday night

we take an antidote before we go

to prepare our souls for the fight

we kill all vampires

every Saturday night

we push a cure as pure as we dare

to keep off the vampire's bite

how a ghost works

[[ Some ways the spirit might leave the flesh. Some ways a place might become haunted. Don't ask too much. ]]

1. 

hit you so hard 

your body 

drops to the pavement

hit you so hard 

your soul 

stands still and wonders

2.

no longer in charge

your spirit

abandons 

your animal

the remaining

you becomes

sub-animal

animal-minus

snorting at nothing

animal-minus

watching the ghost

3.

shame fills you 

till you 

find a way to 

slip away 

disinhabit

inhabit

the nearest stone 

the guest room

any convenient tree

give up the ghost

[[ What can this mean? The narrator's nervous system is haunted. ]]

give up the ghost

= = = = =

little ghost

I know you're in there

the light is soft

the tem-per-a-ture is 

in-ex-pli-ca-bly low

this sound is mind

this sound is mind

this sound is mind

this sound is mind

rest, little ghost

= = = = =

another day 

the little ghost returns

returns with little friends

each little ghost 

is in my spine

swim-ming in 

my spi-nal-flu-id

swimming through 

each after each

the rings of bone 

my vertebrae

a circus trick -

hop through the hoop

each after each

a ring of bone 

a ring of bone 

a ring of bone 

a ring of bone 

a ring of bone 

as if a school 

of little fish

each little ghost 

swims up my spine

and waits beneath 

the inland sea

open mouthed

open, close

oh oh oh oh

= = = = =

I clasp my hands 

and peek inside

aha!

another ghost is here

where have you been?

A spirit coiled (the mocking ghost)

[[ this one began with something real -- Diplacusis dysharmonica, Diplacusis echoica -- and turned into a spirit walking at night in my peripheral hearing and mocking me, and this became a song to be sung with chants and drums and a chorus of mocking spirits]]

[the predicament of the soul]
A spirit coiled
in the curl
of my ear

talks to me
like a lurker
in the other room

I cannot tell
above the wind
that whistles by

Is this the me
who's talking? Whose
tongue is this?

My mind or spi
rit coiled within
my inner ear?

Whose tongue is curled
in my left ear?
Come out now!

[one explanation of the soul's predicament]
They say
the mocking ghost
will walk your words
back home.

They say
the mocking ghost
will turn your tale
around.

They say
the mocking ghost
will live in your
left ear.

[chant of the mocking ghost in insect voices]
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost

[wonderment from within]
My mind
or flight of birds?

My mind
or branches aching?

My mind
or not my mind?

[another explanation of the soul's predicament]

They say 

the mocking ghost
will show
another you.

They say
the mocking ghost
will bend the light
round you.

They say
the mocking ghost
will live in your
left ear.

[chant of the mocking ghost in insect voices]
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost
They say
the mocking ghost

in our lonely bones

in our lonely bones

we believe in ghosts

we cannot believe

we were nothing before

we are only now

we are nothing after

we cannot take comfort

in that being true

in being that true

a spark in the infinite

nothing

we cannot accept

we are only sparrows

briefly warming ourselves

and then flung out of doors

we cannot believe

what we know to be true

in our bones

we believe our only ghosts

in our lonely bones

we believe in ghosts