Saturday, September 10, 2011

WALDEN POND


I walked on the water at Walden Pond
with Bob Dylan, Henry David Thoreau,
and Jesus Christ.
In the bright autumn sun
we crossed from one shore
to the other.
Looking up,
I saw the sky laced
with fragments of clouds
sewn into the splendor
of the day.
"Hey, Henry!" I yelled,
"Now I know why you
love this place so much!"
He turned to smile broadly
but said nothing.
"How come we couldn't
always do this?" I asked.
"You always could!" said Jesus,
"You just didn't believe it."
"Yeah, it took me awhile
to get the hang of it," said Dylan,
"but now it's easy."

Bobby Jameson September 10, 2011

2 comments:

  1. 4 people who have been talked about and who's words have been twisted and turned around to fit someone else's gainings.... I can relay with you 4: it could be simple and easy

    peace

    hans van genderen

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  2. Hey, that's pretty good company that you boys are keeping, and I'm guessing each could learn a little from the others. I like the prose poem form of this one and the walking on water metaphor although I have always thought that "walking" on water was a little limiting as a super power. I think I'd rather fly at super speed; then you could walk when you wanted, but avoid all that travel time if you chose to.

    By the way, Jim Post, the Illinois-based singer/songwriter, does a great piece called "Wade in the Water/An Old Story" live and on his live album, Back on the Street Again. The piece has a great, soaring gospel vocal riff that leads into a spoken narrative with humor and insight (ala Alice's Restaurant) that tells the story of Jesus and the Disciples and the water-walking—it's a retelling akin to something that Lord Buckley or Andy Griffith might have done.

    I have less of a feel for what Jesus or Dylan would think, but my guess is that Thoreau would have enjoyed both the Bobby Jameson poem and the Jim Post song.

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