Home tho 'tis Strange
All Credit to Hillbilly Taoist
To the following tune:
Oh! Give me a home where the wendigo roam, Where not-deer and jackalope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word Ere the evil eye turneth your way. Chorus— Home, home tho 'tis strange Where not-deer and jackalope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word Ere the evil eye turneth your way. Oh, give me the gale of the thunderbird's wail, With jellyfish and mothmen to fly, 'Bove the banks of the rivers, where seldom if ever, Champ and Chessie ain't foundering by. Chorus— Oh, give me the land where Bigfoot's at hand, And skinwalkers stalking man's dreams, While strideth along, river dinos go on From the fountain of youth's sweet streams. Chorus— I love the witching hours in this wild land of ours, I love, too, the rougarou's scream, The craggy grey rocks and the ghosts in their stocks That give the haunted houses their theme. Chorus— How often at night, when the heavens are bright By the light of the UFO, Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed What else is there do we not know. Chorus— The land is so pure, tho there is much to fear, From all that goes bump in the night, I would not exchange my home here to range Away to the pleiades bright. Chorus— The red man was pressed from the East, out the West, He's gone, never more to return, Will the white man follow, for his works have grown hollow, A cryptid faint framed by the fern. Chorus— Oh, I will not change my home on the range For progress and stark towers grey, Aye, the word is true, that the evil eye's blue And the evil eye turneth their way. Chorus— Home, home tho 'tis strange Where not-deer and jackalope play, Where often is heard a discouraging word And the evil eye's turned their way.



A favorite analogy of mine for the poem is the eye chart, when you this big E, at the top of the chart when you take an eye test. A poem should start with a big E, you know, something everybody can recognize. The gambit of the poem is not making any demands on you emotionally or intellectually. It's sort of setting something up that's undeniable. Something like "I'm sitting here at the window with this tree. It's snowing." I mean, the reader can't say, bullshit, I don't buy it. And then as the letters get smaller the poem can move into areas of ambiguity and subtlety, or fantasy and hypothesis. The poem should start in Illinois and get to Oz.
Your poem exemplifies this. And strikes an adrongyny that is diabolically poignant. Well done.
I do believe you are a powerful thinker with mad skills and because of that I am going to subscribe in hopes you do the same. This will keep me accountable and motivated to leave comments such as this on your subsequent and previous posts. I imagine our bonded will power with these exercises will bear much fruit. Do keep my comment on your long distance radar. In the joy of eternal collaboration from shore to shore.
I'll be in touch. Looking forward to this.