up and down the merry-go-round
         johnny is looking for sunday
in and out and all about
     maybe he’ll find it one day

SWISS INN
---------------------------------------

THE MOUNTAINS!              THE MOUNTAINS!
We dare not shake the violin

hans or HENRY
are the boots for amusement?
May we ignore the axe?

BERTA or beatrice
is the roundness included?
Should we forbid your exits?

THE MOUNTAINS!              THE MOUNTAINS!
We dare not oppose the arrangement

BALLAD FROM IRELAND
---------------------------------------

The wind father THE WIND!
The ladies are humming and they
        would be married toward
                       noon

The horn father THE HORN!
The comforts are shifting and we
             are drawn lightly
                      behind

The chain father THE CHAIN!
The season is measured and we
         shall be judged by
                  the span

The feast father THE FEAST!
The hour possesses and we
      must take hints from
             the trend

APPALACHIA
---------------------------------------

cool grass
cherrystones in the morning
we are gone to the city
where we will learn work as magicians

dark hen
cloth in the well
though our bodies are faded
are voices are strong

CHERRYSTONES!
CHERRYSTONES!

when we’re known in the market
we’ll be enjoyed for our attempts

FRANCE
---------------------------------------

When they open the rooms in Lyon

Oh my butter cup

My sweet flea

My best garage

My favorite announcement

I will leap through the shutters

Oh my mustard blossom

and cover you with our procession

stranger

LONDON---SOHO
---------------------------------------

Limes a penny
Let us not falter
Limes a penny
Be wary toward evening

Limes a penny
The old men are mingling
Limes a penny
Where are their daughters?

Limes a penny
The sheet’s on the table
Limes a penny
The bowl’s on the hinge

Limes a penny
A word for our journey
Limes a penny
A name for our theme

Limes a penny
The flowers are bending
Limes a penny
Remember us soon

LONDON--18TH CENTURY QUARTER
---------------------------------------------------------

Nothing is diminished
Nothing is excelled

Sara Little exposes her future

CINNAMON GARLANDS
ROPE
A FEATHER THE LENGTH OF A CHAMBER

Lord Blanch has attempted his thing on three
continents

HE WILL NOT BE EASILY PLEASED

BELGIUM
---------------------------------------

GLOOM say the bells of Emptinnes

HARD say the roads of Dinant

BRIGHT say the cocks of Namur

COME say the mares of Rochefort

RISE say the fields of Turnai

SPEAK say the wells of Chauney

GIVE say the mice of St. Po

WHERE say the geese of Dillens

SLY say the roofs of Maubeuge

QUICK say the fruits of Bertrix

WIDE say the hens of Anglure

NOW say the goats of Challons

WASHINGTON SQUARE
---------------------------------------

And she sings to me when the daylight
is pressed
No more poems
in this township

Bad

Bad for the maiden rolling loose
in the kitchen

Bad for the man
stiff stripped low

Bad times
no more poems

IRELAND AWAY
---------------------------------------

I’ll find me a shrub and name it MERCY

I’ll find me a hill and name it FAIR

I’ll find me a corner and name it REMEMBRANCE

I’ll find me a chair and name it LOVE

I’ll find me a window and name it FAMILY

I’ll find me a river and name it LOSS

I’ll find me a song and name it REGRET

I’ll find me a cloud and name it HOPE

I’ll find me a tree and name it FOREVER

IRISH WAIF’S TALE
---------------------------------------

all night I waited
and all day

was there a beckoning voice warm and true?
a comforting eye? a roof? the makings of a feast
and a handsome coat for the rain?

was there a welcoming nod and a loving touch?

all night I waited
and all day

then the sea bird went away

IRISH LAMENT
---------------------------------------

dig and dig
search and search

make us heavy with doubt

we both the woods
and its keepers

the torn lambs
     we
ourselves
      unto ourselves

make us heavy with thought
we poor brethren settling at the bottom

dig and dig

QUEEN DEIDRE’S EQUATION
--------------------------------------------

SING  she cries
Leave off your pining
And your straining at riddles
For your wisdom’s in buckets and there’s
         deserts to fill

DANCE  she laughs
Bang the tables and scatter the glasses
For you’re as likely to tame the wrath of the world
    as hang the moon on a peg by the door

LAY DOWN she says
For your gains are in folly and your losses in dreams

When your cities are trembling
Your valleys smothered
And your children stand at doors that won’t open
I’ll hold the scraps of your treasure for another
                       day’s prize

LAY DOWN   LAY DOWN

CEREMONY
---------------------------------------

Make haste
the widow women arrive
with food and  pots of blue green elixers

See how they snuff out the candles
then light them again

Come close!
 
Let them sing and moan away the dark truths
          until nothing is concealed
and once again we share in the waiting dawn
and its blessings

recovered

COMING HOME----AN INTERLUDE
----------------------------------------------------

ENTERTAINMENT

but it was not her
it was that gosling in the fireplace

ADORATION

will she remember Morris?
the purchases that decade
over the Greek stones?

THE TRIAL

If only they could have shortened it
if flesh could spite  the descent of the
          novice

FIXTURES AND IDEALS

one glass is by the other glass supported as they revolve
artifice caters to the balance