Farmer Talk

OLD FARMER
(seated in a fast food restaurant, talking to other local workers.)
It was the first time I had ever been on a train. Ever ridden the railroad. I am riding that train all the way up to Fairbanks, Alaska and looking out my window trying to see things. Too many damn trees. I never want to see another tree again. This here scenery is fine for me. Ain’t congested with branches. I listen to the whistles at night—the trains going through Alton with their whistles. Damn loud at night when you’re trying to sleep. Drive me crazy. Little Mary loves them though. She says, “When’s the trains coming? When’s the trains coming.” I say, “The trains come when you sleep, darling.” She says she wants to ride the trains all day and all night. I tell her about Alaska. I tell her the only thing she’ll see from that train is too many damn trees. Ain’t nothing like being here.

9/11

K ‘Bout time.
H I know, sorry, I got on the wrong subway.
K You would.
H I know, pretty pathetic. But there was a man on there with a great beard. You would have loved him. He was carrying a banjo. Almost asked for his number.
K For me?
H Yeah.
K You did not.
H I know.
K Snotbag.
H Wow I haven’t been here for a couple years. Looks better.
K Yeah, I guess they’ve spent a lot of time cleaning it up.
H How many years?
K Since 9/11?
H Yeah. Seven?
K Yeah I guess so.
H Sort of weird, isn’t it?
K Yeah. This place is still kind of eerie.
H I feel like we shouldn’t be talking here.
K Yeah. Do you want to go get coffee?
H No, no, I actually have to run. But I brought you your book. Thanks.
K No prob. Hey, look at that kid over there with his mom.
H Cute!
K I know. She’s crying.
H My dad was supposed to be here that day.
K I remember you told me that.
H I don’t understand why God says yes to some people and no to others.
K Do you think that’s how it is?
H I don’t really know. I guess so.
K I don’t really remember what they looked like.
H Like skyscrapers.
K Yeah thanks. Did you know that a lot of those tv shows used to have images of them in the intros but they took them out afterwards?
H I guess that makes sense. Sort of sensitive.
K Are you okay?
H Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine.
K Okay, well call me later.
H Yeah I will.
K Lets get Starbucks tonight.
H Okay.
K Its hard to look at isn’t it?
H Yeah. And hard to talk about too.
K I know. And I wasn’t even that close to it.
H I know.
K Okay, hug me.
H Bye.
K Bye. See you later gator.

So one of the most uncomfortable things that can happen to a person is to make eye contact with a stranger in a public bathroom mirror.

Hymns

"Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing."

"Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art..."

"There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains."

"I hear the Saviour say,
'Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Fing in Me thine all and all."

"May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun!"

"Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow."

"Oh Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary sould in Thee."

I write for all of you.

There are a lot of different "you"s in my life.
I just wanted to tell you.
Its not you.
Maybe it is.
But don't think its you.

Blanket

If I was a quilter,
I would collect you in pieces,
Stictch you together,
And wrap myself every night in the blanket that is you.

"I've got nothing," is sometimes the saddest thing you say to me.

This Should be a Children's Poem

It was our house- their hands.

How to Quit

Smoke for my lungs--replaced with tea, paper and pens.
Fresh sky.
I miss the grey; blue does not calm me.
Neither does your voice.

i am trying to figure out how to recover.