1. |
Rome, Part One
02:08
|
|||
|
Rome, Part One.
Phantom flames consume the ghost house
As seen from a boat crossing the river
The hole in the tree line on the ridge
Where the house once stood
Overlooking the Green River
The ghost house can be seen burning
On the blackest nights
On the cliff above the river
Cold blue flames that flicker
In and out of existence
At the end of the overgrown
Broken road and ancient path
In the darkened woods of the forest
The burning form of the ghost house
May be seen on the edge of collapse
White bright before disappearing
From where it used to be
Some say that they have
Also seen a ghost
Emerging from the flickering house
A boy not yet a man
A body engulfed in cold blue flames
The ghost of young Rome McCracken
|
||||
2. |
Rome, Part Two
01:56
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Two.
Old stones sinking streams
Bluestem pine cone pyramid
Underground limestone waterfall
Bees Cliff Chickasaw fire pit
Ringing bell standing stone
Natural bridge forest edge
Moon fall crow glow
Blood skin snow thaw
Train horn lightening bug
Forest fall poison snake
Woods night skin change
Stone grave blue jay
Rock House Devils Sink
Falling water raining sheet
Salt lick and cloven feet
The fire’s voice a still scream
Green River railroad key
Penny Royal economy
River trade fallen trees
Sawmill McCracken distillery
Weed speed and dirty deeds
Gun club commune hippie sun
Chestnut tall falling snow
Boy survives in fallen log
|
||||
3. |
Rome, Part Three
02:14
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Three.
One time
Big Mac skipped high school
Ran up the hill with Mary Ann
Drinking sweet stolen whiskey
They lost their virginity
On the family property
At the end of the road
Under the standing stone
Overlooking the town
Stung by bees naked in the trees
Another time, a later time
Big Mac remembers
After he got his degree in chemistry
And began his legacy at the distillery
Another chapter in the family history
He drove his new truck down the gravel dirt
The old road the McCracken property
With the beautiful Jolene
Who Mac had blindfold
So Jo Jo would not know
Jo Jo Jo Jo and Mary Ann
Pretty thing diamond ring
I Big Mac do you
Do wed and will take to bed
And swear upon my grave
That this will be the spot
Where I will build our home our house
And you my sweet sweet
Queen Jolene Queen Mary Ann
Will ascend to your rightful place
Beside my throne
|
||||
4. |
Rome, Part Four
01:54
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Four.
New house on an old space
Two stories on top of a basement
Three baths and a carport
The fireplace was formed
Around an old standing stone
Overlooking the river
The town and the people
And the church steeple
Sweet sweet Jolene
Never stood fast
Swept off her feet
Now she’s seldom seen
Young and lost fading
Used to say beauty queen
When the time came to make the move
Jolene feels her mind slip
The house finally built with
Big Mac triumphant
First Anniversary
Of their wedding night
Big Mac and Jolene McCracken
Moved into the new house on Bees Cliff
Sweet sweet Jolene
Never stood fast
Swept off her feet
Now she’s never seen
Young and lost fading
Used to say beauty queen
|
||||
5. |
Rome, Part Five
01:42
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Five.
Aw Gran Maw
Already heard
Them say it
Your new name
And designation
For the new born
Your first-born new grandson
Aw Gran Maw
You feel it
A new wound
You can never heal it
Deep in your heart
Now holding in your arms
Your first-born new grandson
The mother’s fine
And doing well
Just take some time
And all will heal
Rough times
Jo Jo’s had
Lost her Mom
And her Dad
This past year
The whole time
Little baby boy
Growing inside
Aw Gran Maw
You see it
A new look
you’ve seen before
The new born Rome
Rome McCracken
Your first-born new grandson
|
||||
6. |
Rome, Part Six
02:19
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Six.
The imaginary friend is sometimes more real than the family
The uninvited guest is nosing around in the darkened attic clutter
Late night silver plate peek around the corner
My soul to keep when I die in my sleep wake up
Rome looked at Rime in the copper mirror
And asked him if he’d said something clever
Rime told Rome he’d heard a feral noise in the attic
Rome said he heard it too and threw off the covers
Sneaking around while the old man snores
The secret of swimming and the key to the door
Rome found Rime under the ladder under the attic
Rime smiled and Rome remembered in the basement
Pyth Gorax had somehow trapped himself in the attic
While smelling his way through a crack in the roof
Rime said yes Rome like Pyth Gorax up in the attic
I’m the squirrel who slipped inside your cluttered attic mind
The uninvited squirrel escaped from the McCracken attic
Back to the tree with a pouch full of stale peanuts
Pyth Gorax found the nuts in the plastic pup tent in the attic
Left behind by the invisible friend of young Rome McCracken
|
||||
7. |
Rome, Part Seven
02:20
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Seven.
Rain and Snow
Rome was a family name
Old as the hills Gran Maw thought
Great great-grandfather Rome
Snow and Rain
On the way to the hospital
Jo saw the morning sky was moving
Fat flakes of white snow falling
Swirling in the morning sunlight
Rain and Snow
Hours and hours later
Holding the two tiny baby sisters in her floating arms
Jo Jo looked out the hospital window
She saw sheets of falling rain washing the evening sky
Snow and Rain
Like a waterfall curtain backlit by street lamps
Like tears on a windshield smeared into Rome and Mac
And Gran Maw who forever said to herself she forgave Jolene
For the naming of the beloved twin baby granddaughters
Rain and Snow
Gran Maw thought to herself
The names Jolene gave the twins
They weren’t Christian names, like Rome
Snow and Rain
|
||||
8. |
Rome, Part Eight
02:31
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Eight.
Time for all good kids to be in bed
Hide beneath the sheets
And if I hear a peep
You will wish you were dead
Sue sets phaser on stun
Headphones on The Josephines
The Pride of The Pennyrile
Red line bedtime then check the fridge
Sick fish sticks with Cheetos and Big Red
Rome McCracken has gone native
Per usual fades into the shadows of the forest primeval
Penny Royal High School society has branded
Rome a loner looser
Sue caught him playing with matches
When he was younger
But Sue would never rat
Even on that little creep
Even to his mother
The twin sisters, Rain and Snow, know the score
Maintain radio silence behind closed door
The twins were social butterflies who used to dance
With real butterflies on the garden path
Now class co-presidents and throw-back glee club thespians
Sue was distracted by a call on the phone
From another babysitter trapped in someone else’s home
Swapped gossip and high school horror stories
Spoke in stage whispers with no names
No Jolene No Big Mac No Mary Ann
No soap opera ending nobody knows
Nothing more to say so hang up the phone
|
||||
9. |
Rome, Part Nine
02:29
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Nine.
All Baby Doll could see was the edge of the roof of the house
The sky beyond and the outside light that came on at night
Baby Doll was stuck in the back of the SUV
Left behind, not lost but forgotten
It had happened before
Rain remembered to bring her
And then left her in the car
Then Jolene or Rome or Snow would find her
Or maybe Rain would remember
And take her back into the house
Jolene had packed her bags in the SUV
Yesterday but didn’t notice Baby Doll
Jolene was crying and saying she was leaving
Talking to the wind and the trees
Forever, she said, but then she didn’t leave
Jolene slammed down the hatch and Baby Doll
Was still wedged in the back of the SUV
Where she remained as before
Button eyes always open
Her plush body and pretty cotton dress
Almost tied in knots folded in on itself
She saw the sky darken and the sunlight fade
Then the outside light came on
The roof was red and brown
With fallen leaves moving in the wind
Then the outside light exploded
It was dark for a moment
Then Baby Doll saw the flames
Appear dancing through the roof
Then leaping in the air
|
||||
10. |
Rome, Part Ten
03:02
|
|||
|
Rome, Part Ten.
Gran Maw remembers the last time
One of the twins came and saw her
That was in the summer on the river
Did she see Rain or Snow look up
At the hole in the tree line
Into another time
Someone had taken the batteries
Out of the smoke detectors
The twins had saved their parents
The mother in the master bedroom
And the father asleep in his uneasy chair
Big Mac and Jolene got divorced
Mac got an apartment near the distillery
Mary Ann left town to go somewhere
Jolene took the twins and moved to Louisville
Rome’s remains were never found
Gran Maw imagined Rome had escaped the flames
Run away with the fox friend he always talked about
Mosquito bites and snapping turtles
Wings of fire flies and summer hay fever
Thousands of stars shining in the river
Crickets chirp the owl takes wing
Nightjars call and frogs sing
The standing stone now fallen
Overlooking the river
The outlines of the foundation
Overgrown with honeysuckle and poison ivy
Not far from the meeting ground of a pack of wild dogs
There was talk about a ghost house on Bees Cliff
And other things, seen under the starless night
But that was only old fools talk
Like Horsefly Smith and Li’l Tater
Who’d never seen such a thing, she imagined
|
||||
The Amish Heaters recommends:
The latest by the Louisville institution first formed by Tim Furnish in the 1990z. I hear a new one is on the way!
go to album
Feast of Smoke
by Feast of Smoke
Say no more.
go to album
5 Sonnets to Orpheus
by DANE WATERS
A Louisville legend. One of a kind.
go to albumIf you like The Amish Heaters, you may also like:
Learning To Swim On Empty
by Wu-Lu
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 30, 2024
go to album
CRYING AROUND AND IN COLOR
by BELOVED SUN
The duo of Artist Named You and Sol Galeano present their debut together, a conceptual and adventurous modern R&B album.
go to album
Four songs from Glasgow artist Eli Hermit that explore moods that are trancelike and hypnotic.
go to album
