1. |
|
|||
A March morning, ice melting
The snow water, it glistens and halts
Trickling off of the buildings
Soaking the concrete and
Dripping from Chevrolets
Day-workers tar seams in the concrete
The sun rises up from behind Borough Hall
A packed 57 grumbles as it rattles by
And I’m rushing to meet Marsha
At Smith and Bergen by nine.
It’s not like her to withhold things
All she said was she wanted to talk.
I walk and listen while cars sing ignition
I stop in Sammie’s and glance at the news
Tucked cellophane flowers under my arm
I’m worried, but when I see her
I don’t want to let on
1403BN32
|
||||
2. |
Leftover Things
04:44
|
|
||
I stuffed the trashbag full of bedsheets in the hatchback
And gently closed the trunk until it latched.
She said “I best get on the road, before the traffic’s bad.”
I said “Marsha I hope your mother gets better,”
And she glanced at the scatter of her leftover things
We had stacked by the curb for the trash.
She got stuck at the light at Henry and Sackett
So I ran the block and we said goodbye again
As she pull away, I just waved and waved
I just waved and waved.
1503BN32
|
||||
3. |
The Back Alley
04:57
|
|
||
I moved back to my folks’ in Jacksontown
After Ma was diagnosed.
I knew Papa couldn’t care well for them both
So I quit the city and came home.
I got work at Jon’s Deli making bread
And learned to love the sunrises.
In the back alley I’d watch grey mice gather newsprint
For a new nest.
Ma forgot my name there near the end
And she’d fight with Papa over dust.
Some nights I’d find him sleeping in a chair,
Looking old beside her bed.
1604OA33
|
||||
4. |
|
|||
It was high up, when the sun went down.
We would drive up the highest hill in town,
Just to lean our heads back and try to see it glowing.
It was far off, but it felt so near.
We’d turned the car off when the sky was clear
And sit up there for hours when Mars was showing.
It was easy to see back then.
Our eyes were wide and the streetlights were thin.
It could be easy someday again
But I doubt we'll find a way back to where we've been.
It was easy to sing our hymns,
The songs of youth and reckless dreaming.
It could be easy someday again,
If we can find the tune of our redeeming.
It was high up, when the sun went down.
We would drive up the highest hill in town,
Just to lean our heads back and see if Mars was showing
If this old town gets dark enough
We could slow down and peer above.
We could lean our heads back and try to see it glowing.
1704OA33
|
||||
5. |
|
|||
"Just over the crest of that hill
That's where they found it,"
Emma said, pointing toward the old mill,
Then they put a fence around it.
"Took some samples to the college in town
But we never heard anything.
I still don't know what exactly they found
But they had to stop building."
"It's just as well, the jobs went north,
So much is out of our hands.
And we do fine, Jon and I,
We just make other plans."
I think sometimes, how long ago
This all was an ocean floor
And maybe sooner than we know,
Those waters will be restored.
Emma stopped to pull a burr from her skirt
As she was finishing her story.
"It's sure a shame why you had to move home," she said,
As we came up on Nichol's quarry.
"But it will be nice to have you back around town,
Folks seem to leave here in a hurry.
Remember how we'd come up here and skip stones?
I still do then when I'm worried."
I think sometimes, how long ago
This all was an ocean floor
And maybe sooner than we know,
Those waters will be restored.
1804OA33
|
Mending Brooklyn, New York
The Wakerobin Archive is an ongoing experiment in speculative storytelling in song.
.
.
Book 01, "We Gathered at Wakerobin Hollow" is a four hour, nine album drone folk exploration of sisterhood and climate change.
Book 02 commences in March 2020.
Mending is Kate Adams and Joshua Dumas
... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Mending, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp