1.After The Fact
It was all an act
But of course that's after the fact
2.A Thousand Hail Marys
It never seems to fail.
A thousand 'Hail Marys' and I'm still among the wretched.
I'll betcha dimes to donuts
that this treachery will prevail.
Don't bug me! I'm serious!
Don't bug me.
It's not that hard to see.
A lousy dollars worth of premises and penance.
I'll put your hell in a handbasket
and send it back to you.
Don't bug me! I'm serious!
Don't bug me.
3.Charles Mansion
It used to be a church on the isle of Atlantis
Mr. Chilk hurts, it was all just a fantasy
One dream in the brain of a beast used for labor
One beam in the house for a girl-dream to savor
A wild eyed companion with roots in the sky
One trips through that house
That uplifting, dangerous, horrible house
Where oxen go
Where oxen die
'A hole opens up in the ground beneath it'
4.Epilogue
You can stay at the Charles Mansion
When there is no room at the inn
A beast, your friends
The rest was mentioned
You've lost your virginity again.
5.Escape
My foot has warm all over them
My nighty's ripped from hem to hem
I'm almost naked, does that excite you？
I'm leaving alone.
I tried to invite YOU
6.Getting To The Root
Into her mouth went the whole dang thing
It made her cry, and her eye; it sting
And in her other eye, (not involved)
A vision of the recent past
None of which is solved
And if only this were the hindmost time
She had to please a man in such a stooping way
'Who is this doughy man？'
7.I'll See You In Heaven
Got my gaurden all packed up.
I got them tiny lights to put in bushes.
When they shine, boy I tell ya,
ain't a brighter night to come by...
I packed my chair... Sixteen cushions
And them plastic things to keep it clean.
Don't want no messy palms or backs
to scuff or tarnish my recliner.
Ain't a finer place to sit and watch TV
(I packed that, too.)
As you can see, I'm quite prepared.
Gotta stop by the store on the way there
and pick up a couple a things;
A carton of cigarettes and maybe another case of beer.
I hope there's a mini-mart in heaven.
8.Lifting The Tissue
Back at Tarla's camp
We made promises
To keep in touch
Feelings were hurt by her husband
Who hit Mr. Chilk
In the face with a bottle
Tarla said, 'Oh Mr. Chilk! You are a mess.
My husband has been to the Mansion I guess.
He's always been nice, except for more recently.
One trip to that House can strip one of decency.'
Mr. Chilk put his hand to his face on his head and said,
'If you don't lift the tissue my scabs will be dreadful.'
And Tarla reached into her box full of virtue
and pulled out a Handful of colorful tissue.
'It's tissue to skin how I must lift it gently
for if I'm too hasty I might make a dent stay.'
Oh tissue times two it's a difficult pod
Who shall decide on this delicate issue？
9.No Sign Of Danger Part Iii
And from her eyes came a sudden
Real eyes Asian
This must be about her waking up
To a morning dusted with lies and misnomers
About tiny camps and animals
Is there really a Mr. Chilk？
Is he really as big as an ox？
Is Tarla clumsy as a bag of sticks？
Did she ever have the chicken pox？
These four questions caused her anger
Once again,
No sign of danger.
10.Pursuit
I know now what I chase
The back yard has escaped me
I do not fear the doughy man, the mower,
Oxen, sheep, or lamb
My breakfast nears
It's looking at me
Bacon tears my flimsy nighty
But I am woman
Safe and mighty
So pork of Chilk be gone, be got
I fear my box is cozy, hot
I've loved and lost and loved again
I've loved and lost and loved a lot
I've always loved that goddamned ox
There's something warm inside my socks.
11.She Lies
She likes to talk about her dad
and all the different jobs he had
And all the times he turned to her and said
someday you'll be a mother
Mother Fucker
And every time she speaks in words
It's garbled, shaky, and she's heard
That all the things she knows are true about her mother
Mother Fucker
She lies. Oh yes she lies.
When she was four she had a farm
and all the animals were made of plastic
Like the teeth inside the head within the mouth
Crush crush crush just like her mother
Mother Fucker
She tried to see beneath the stone
that father spat on all alone
And all she got was father's spit
which used to coat the body of her mother
Mother Fucker.
12.Tarla Walks
Tarla walks down the hall
And when she walks, sometimes she falls.
Tarla makes it whenever she can
And she listens to the flesh in her bag.
Tarla dreams of the day that she will see
Mr. Chilk's eyes down the hall.
What she wants is not that hard.
Mr. Chilk is a political man
And nothing will stop him, nothing can.
Even the lack of vital tissue
cannot sway him from his vision
And his mission and her satchel
are unstable and yet central to the issue at hand.
And Tarla walks down the hall
And when she walks sometimes she falls.
She gets up
And Tarla walks
And asks herself about the ox.
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