• Politics
• Books & the Arts
• March 22, 2001

Hymn

Hymn

Sounds that twisted
around the room like smoke,
bludgeoning, blossoming,
where I did not want
to find them, but I find them
over and over. Father,
bless your hair.
Bless your hammer
and your no-song whistle,
your voice, your strange
language–embarrassing to me
once. Too lyrical, too vulgar.
But father, bless your hair:
sculptural, short, black
lamb’s wool, steel wool
like your voice–gravel
underfoot when I’d walk
home from school. Bless
your voice, the gravel
underfoot, your hammer,
your strange language twisting
like smoke, biting like a snake
the head of which I wanted
to stroke or crush with my heel.
And your whistle father,
and when you’d stop
whistling, suddenly,
in the middle of your work,
as if something had cut
away the part of you
that wanted to sing.