Gary Blankenship
Song of Myself #1 - Contralto
Song of Myself #2 - Carpenter
Song of Myself #1 - Contralto
1. The pure contralto sings in the
organ loft,
the wind chases a sycamore leaf
the river flows past abandoned battlefields
the reverend seeks different verse for his
Sunday sermon
ravens gather on the steeple,
badgers under the porch,
the soprano joins in
a hallelujah chorus
sunflowers seed a fence line
rye ripples in the shadow of headstones
Song of Myself #2 - Carpenter
2. The carpenter dresses his plank . .
. . the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild ascending
lisp,
curls for pews thrown off by my plane
gathered in my daughter’s skirt
sawdust thrown off by my saw
swept into bags
red curls adorn my daughter’s hair
cedar sawdust fills eggshell white sacks
her hope chest empty
she elopes with a poet who stutters
hope fulfilled
she runs off with a tin whistle drummer