The sandpapery candor of Bobby Dylan
Strikes a jejune note all of a sudden
Throw my ticket out the window
Throw my sneakers out there too
Mama said there’d be days like this
When rain pencils the sky
With an air of biological rigor
And visibility is grimly minimized
Tiny puffs of smoke speckle it
The harmonic spectrum is muffled
The tall white dog stands in the road
Shivering and shaking the water off
The scene makes the usefulness
Of an infinite tolerance evident
Too late I see the value of being
Resolute in a new light
Rain falling: photo by Axel Drouin, 2005
Rain falls: photo by Tomasz Sienicki, 2004
Rain drops on a smoke tree leaf: photo by Kris Miller, 2004
12 comments:
I love that Dylan song. Nice poem Tom.
Thanks Bill.
I like the song too, and I'm sure Bobby won't mind my changing suitcases to sneakers. (I was in those days a frequent contestant in ragged schoolyard basketball combat.)
Equally I've hoped the Shirelles would not mind helping out with that one classic line from a song whose lyric will never cease to amaze:
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this Mama said
(Mama said, mama said)
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this my Mama said
(Mama said, mama said)
I went walking the other day,
Everything was going fine,
I met a little boy named Billy Joe
And then I almost lost my mind
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this Mama said
(Mama said, mama said)
Mama said there'll be days like this,
There'll be days like this my Mama said & c.
the usefulness
Of an infinite tolerance
if only!
I like this one too, and the Footsteps. Another terrific batch of poem/image combinations today, thank you Tom.
And thank you, Zeph.
Yes, I'm still working on that tolerance bit.
Very nice poem, Tom. Sneakers, suitcase, suspenders, anything.
The second rain picture is amazing. Electric storm here in Austin tonight. Listening to Dylan's Modern Times: "Ain't talkin', just walkin'" and:
"Well, the whole world is filled with speculation / The whole wide world which people say is round / They will tear your mind away from contemplation / They will jump on your misfortune when you're down."
Was directed here for the PW poem, and then I found the Cornell piece. Now at random reading and catching up. Saw some recent pieces in the Corpse and wondered what you were up to -- now I know. Good to be back in the flow. Always a fan, Pat in Monte Rio
Yo Pat,
Nowhere to go but the flow, good to be back in it with you. Watching the River Flow...
Dale,
... and glad to hear you and your brood survived the flood.
George,
Suspenders: the best suggestion yet. Anything to hold one up.
Let's throw it all out the window!
Good to see this, Tom.... the first couplet stuck in my mind for many years...... Tom
The poem and photos have cast my day in a new light (no joke). Thankyou, Tom.
Thank you Tom and Stu
To be sticking in your mind and/or recasting your day
Were I a poem or a picture, say
Would be all I'd want to do
("Lines Cast in the Water Closet of The Dumbfoundry")
love the images...!!
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