A Crumbling Cemetery (1-7-89)

Dress me in red and black,

Play the cards from a curious stack,

Three black bird

Wait patiently for your words

To surrender home.

The darkness falls

Like the crack of a whip

Where a body rolls out

Of a burned out ship.

Night train, carry me

To a small town and bury me

With my lovers and brothers

In a crumbling cemetery.

And when the full moon rises,

The earth is inviting surprises

From the grave where they've buried me

In a crumbling cemetery.

Author's Note

This was written on January 7, 1989 while in a car riding to a funeral in a small farming town in Indiana. I wrote it about a murder in Carbondale, Illinois I had heard about through some friends. A man was killed and his body was put in the trunk of his car, and the car was set on fire. It also mentions another murder which happened in an apartment complex I lived in where a young woman was stabbed to death. The next day, three of the largest crows I had ever seen were sitting on her roof.

Reviews

[Emily B]

Amazing stuff. . . just the right amount of everything.

[Nicholas Hallows]

I like this a lot. I just know the words are going to stay with me. NH

[An Ordinary Woman]

To think this almost 20 yrs old is freaky. It is a timeless poem, it doesn't matter how old it is.

After reading your notes I have a vivid image of this taking place. Wow. I love your writing and style.


... Go you!...