Eggleston Dance #1: A Memphis Afternoon
In a normal summer
I might find you in Normal Station
where it’s easy
to get stuck behind
two-mile long freight trains
light poles grown larger than trees
and shadows that sweat in the baking day
I might find you in Normal Station
where it’s easy
to get stuck behind
two-mile long freight trains
light poles grown larger than trees
and shadows that sweat in the baking day
In a normal summer
you might find me in Normal Station wandering into parking lots
looking for shelving or car parts
hoping no one notices how we glimpse when we play no-glove catch
you might find me in Normal Station wandering into parking lots
looking for shelving or car parts
hoping no one notices how we glimpse when we play no-glove catch
You won’t stop whispering
we’re on Chickasaw land
and I believe
we’re on Chickasaw land
and I believe
In a normal summer
we’d return from a rock beach
not worrying about dragging in sand
but even then we’d carry pebbles
that we’ll find in the floorboards
we’d return from a rock beach
not worrying about dragging in sand
but even then we’d carry pebbles
that we’ll find in the floorboards
in the couch cushions. in pockets in skin
Some Jews
Some Jews
are outrageous
Other Jews
are inert
Some Jews
ham
loudly
Other Jews
sigh
heavily
into books
Sometimes they are the same
Many Jews are famous
Most Jews are funny
All Jews perform
There are skinny Jews
with sick eyes like Kafka
or rage like Steven Jesse Bernstein
(though unorthodox to quite that extent)
There can also be
fat Jews
with psoriasis
like Al Goldstein
editor of Screw
who says he slept
with over 7000 women
And what about those kindly Jews
in the dying years
of young womanhood
with fuzzy hair and soft eyes
who teach Tot Shabbat classes
in synagogue basements on
Saturday mornings
Some Jews are Black
there are Jews in Argentina
Other Jews are Israeli
there are Jews in Quebec
A few are left in Poland
and they’re a handful in Hungary
Jews may like steam baths
and American Jews
some who flock south
may like baseball
but maybe not so much being Jewish
Perhaps it’s just tradition to forget
when progress
becomes manifest
when material
becomes more efficient than economy
when matter
becomes bone
There are shivers of Jews
inside shivers of Jews
Yet what debts us altogether
is the payout from our trust,
that is given in blood.
