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I Never Think About the Bomb - Gnossienne No. 1

from The Garden of Terrors and Delights by The Starry Eyes

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Original poem by Cleveland Wall, music by Erik Satie, performed by Michael Wall.

lyrics

I Never Think About The Bomb

and it’s not because
I live and breathe it
like language or gravity or
indoor plumbing. I think about
those things, consider
the stench and filth
of a chamber pot, the lusty
“Gardy-loo!” announcing,
perhaps too late, the flinging
of its contents into the street
below. And that gardy-loo
is from the French garde de l’eau,
which is putting it mildly.

I suppose there were always meteors,
ice ages, other evolutionary hiccups
that could spell doom; maybe
that’s why this dark cloud
feels inevitable. The others
are rare and unpredictable
and above all, out of our hands,
but come to think of it, so’s the bomb,
unless you’re the fellow with
his finger on the button,
which mostly, you’re not.

If I think about the bomb at all,
it’s the kitschy stock footage of
duck and cover, mushroom cloud,
and those oh-so-futuristic
fallout shelter signs. It was
a big deal back then—
like “reefer” and rock-and-roll.
Those girls who went hysterical
over the Beatles, or whomever,
seem quaint now.

I used to at least feel frivolous
for not worrying about it.
It was important
to wring one’s hands
in the secret belief that
thought mattered.
Well, the cold war’s
over now, anyway.

I have idly dreamt
under looming deadlines:
“Perhaps the End of the World
will come and save me.”
But, of course, it never ends
even when it ends. The having been
remains, like the hush of treefall
where no one’s listening.

credits

from The Garden of Terrors and Delights, released January 11, 2020
Voice: Cleveland Wall; guitar: Michael Wall. Recorded at Studio 11 in Bethlehem, PA. Sound engineer: Justin Merritt. Cover art: William Christine.

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The Starry Eyes Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

The Starry Eyes combine original poems with classical guitar repertoire for a strangely compelling dance in which the two pieces waver between convergence and juxtaposition. Guitarist Michael Wall and poet Cleveland Wall have been performing together since 2011. ... more

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