Athens, Georgia Poem by James Murdock

Oh ariose riverbed
land of mystery
roads
eroded soils
sycamore
hideaways
saw-tooth oaks
privet built like
houses
abandoned
mills
we climbed in
junkie juke
joints
children of all
ages
Psilocybe
cubensis
laughing
madly at
treetops
crawling
on hands
and knees
to bachelor
mockingbird
at night
we-yaw we-yaw
we-yaw
yeeeeeee
it's Tuesday?
we forgot about
the game

Oh Zion
on a hill
bring me
forever
your
congregations
of odd
southern
heads
like
spider
lilies
from
around
your
yard
bring me
brilliant
extract
from lands
of conformity
a coolness
in the heat
make me
a pallet
of escape
from
these
comforts,
which are
gross
to me

Bring me
the waters
of the
Middle
Oconee
which flow
down
into you
carrying
diluted
religion
to your
halls of
philosophy
to be
repudiated
let me
hold
your
hand
and
show you
horrible
things

"don't worry,
baby
one day
you will
come
full circle"

40 Watt
eternal flame
there is something
that sings here
from under
the ground
bring new Stipes
to part the sea
more
squealing
howls
from
Nowhere
the twang
we've come
to know
and love
and leave
Chesnutt
when you're
feeling blue
more grunge
to push
the khakis
back

Oh darling bring me
Coleman Barks
muttering
channel
of
cryptic Sufis
and more
beautiful men
such as
these—
"I ride after
a deer
and
find myself
chased by
a hog"

bring me
melting pot
Latin South
of Judith
Ortiz
in summer!

Bring sweet poets
and painters
and lovers
seers of
stained glass
plucked
from
Granny's
garden
homes
in Monroe
or Sandersville
or sunny
South
Georgia
those
off-beat
fluctuations
those
magnolia
blossoms

You are not the
only place
more like
an idea
of places
dear to me
a jewel
in the
rolling
piedmont
a gateway
to magic
mountains
a place
where music
comes
in many
forms
and so
opinions
do
too
a place
of trust
and
freedom
to be,
a village
of freaks
and frights
where the
golden
husk
of fall
wraps
round
and
the
whirling
sky
leans
in