hard-souled woman

[[ Soul or sole? The obvious ambiguity is intentional. It's a walking song about someone with hard shoes or hard feet (from walking) or a hard heart or any combination, but who can trust the persona? Maybe the "hard-souled woman" is bad, maybe the persona is bad, maybe both. Maybe she doesn't even know the persona exists or maybe they're married. Maybe the persona is a man or a woman: I like to imagine it being sung by a woman about a woman. ]]  

Hard-souled woman,

walking around my mind at night.

Hard-souled woman,

walking around my mind at night.

I know your sister

and your sister's all right,

But I've seen you walking 

and I've never seen a girl so tight.

Hard-souled woman,

out stepping in your best disguise.

Hard-souled woman,

out stepping in your best disguise.

I know your mama

and you've got your mama's eyes.

But I've seen you walking 

and you've got your own damn thighs.

You know you don't have to pay me one lick of attention.

You know you don't have to talk.

You know you don't have to stay for me one more damn second.

You know you know you know you know you can just walk.

Walking's what you're all about.
Walking's been good to you.

Hard-souled woman,

walking away.

Hard-souled woman,
walking away.

tomorrow

church bells

a festival

a woman

singing

soul and flesh in

a single ecstasy

tapping at the window

a curious bird or

a friend coming by or

a branch in the wind?

stretched legs

from hips to toes

a woman

letting

go of tension

a turning ceiling fan

sweetness in the air   

a gift for us or

for some other species or

for sweetness itself?

a new coin tossed

shining in her hand

and dare she look

at fate in her palm?

at unplucked berries  

warm in the sun?

Imagined Geography 3: Oklahoma Song

Have you seen the sky 

open over the plain?

One minute, soft moonlight,

then thunder and rain.

Have you seen the sky 

come to swallow you whole?

I have seen a town vanish

soul by soul by soul.

Have you seen what God thinks
of an Oklahoma town?

I have heard God roar

and then swat one down.

Have you seen the sky 

open over the plain?

One minute of dying,

then clear sky again.

intentional love song 19: rescue

wounded in a corner, you sit

crumpled on the floor, you sit

slumped at the bar, you sit

falling through a door

into another country

and sending all the messages home

what will become of your soul?

where will it fly to now?

go through your inventory

let your anger roar

jealousy, lust, and fear

we've seen it all before

tick, tick, tick

the source of your fear, in here

a stack of curled bones, in here

a bundle of nerves, in here

sending out runners

to the ends of your senses

and sending all the messages home

what will become of your soul?

where will it fly to now?

you want me now 

to come to the rescue

the jaws of life opening 

wide to extricate you

tick, tick, tick

extricate your soul 

from the wreck of your heart?

as if ever the two
could be teased apart!

the weight of the soul

[[ Weapons -- bullets, bombs, missiles -- and the technology of violence, the politics and philosophy of violence, the blinking out of life. And there was the famous (?) experiment in which someone claimed to weigh the human soul and came up with 21 grams. ]] 

how fast they move

these pieces of metal

how hard and sharp 

they make themselves known

the projection of power

is airtight, cylindrical, 

streamlined and modular

how small they seem 

these pieces of certainty

how they disintegrate

all understanding 

the end of it all 

has just crossed the border

and gone underground

how fast they die 

the cells of memory

how the mind blinks out

second by second

the weight of the soul

is the difference between

the body before and after

how small we seem

with no more certainty

how we disintegrate

past understanding

the end of it all 

has just crossed the border

and gone underground

the weight of the soul

is the difference between

the body before and after

we die surrounded,

surrounding, before and after,

feel the weight of the soul

Jack Robinson

[[ using all manner of cliche and a repetitive first line as the rhyme to tell the story of a man on a corner who saw another man die ]]

Man was standing here

before my own eyes

this was before your time

Man was standing here

stabbed in the back

before you could say knife

Man was standing here

straight in the eye

saw his soul leave his body

Man was standing here

then he was down forever

you could cut the atmosphere

Man was standing here

never learned his name

he was here and then he was gone

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