carol

(x = space)

good night, irene

(weave away)

i don’t know who

irene is

maybe she

spends time

with missus calabash

or to whomever

carol tugs her ear

(maybe

we know)

we’re running

a little late

he says each time

on radio

how does he not know?

why doesn’t the network

correct him if

he’s always late?

because

saying goodbye

is hard to do

creative

and all these people tried

they credit us

with understanding

and a reminder that

some things

even everyday

are new

or not

say goodbye however you mean it

there is no cliché

nothing trite

in the next heartbeat

or the word

that comes from there

good night, irene

(lead belly

it’s okay to laugh

i think he must

from time

to time)

let’s see you on the flip side

side b

where it’s wonderful

you hear it

when the artists say

they sing

(in side b songs)

hello

c l couch

photo by mick haupt on unsplash

Services with Variants

(from Appalachia)

I wonder as I wander

Out under the sky

Why Jesus, my Jesus,

Did come down to die

For poor on’ry people

Like you and like I

I wonder as I wander

Out under the sky

And then the story can begin in

Earnest—the grammar’s bad:

What does that really matter,

When the bias is for long and

Almost painful, loving notes

Wrought in the words to send

Them over; all the o sounds and

The is like convict souls, once

Held then let go like winged

Enchantment, soar above the

Planet in the room, to wave

Like smoke around the beams

Above the Sunday evening

Gathering, like convicts bound

Whose chains are broken with

No expectation, words and

Notes released like birds once

Wrapped by keepers’ hands—

In flight now to know no other

Mission than the erring sky

And song of wonder-wandering

“I Wonder as I Wander” (Appalachia)

Words and Music collected by John Jacob Niles

Collected by John Jacob Niles in Murphy, [North Carolina,] in July 1933 from a young traveling evangelist Annie Morgan. According to Niles, he asked her to sing the song repeatedly until he had memorized it. It was published in his 1934 Songs of the Hill-Folk.

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/i_wonder_as_i_wander.htm

and “on’ry” is ornery, which is a good word