We were all of us empty of its heft and Tammy could tell.
•
Being she herself was ( wildling ) ( loosestrife-weed )
( undaddied ) same as us.
•
Flung chaff-motes that we were
she saw to tell us time and time that yonder oak its bark and bulk.
•
She harped on it; she rendered. Instilled-
elucidated treeness piece by part.
•
Have I said yet ( howsoever she’d’ve told us ) it was never it to her but him.
•
As in I school myself I climb the bluff I followfeel the roots of him. They river-
bound They gnarlin’ up from mud [ black pluff ! ] He veins the bank.
•
Some say. Word was.
—That her ( fleetblooded ) actual daddy jacked the toll-thru ( humps the trains ).
•
She dwelled on it; she brooded. Elaborated-
fleshed for us especially much his arms.
•
How one mossy brawn-span she favored
had been scathed ( engraved along its length ) by lightning.
•
How the long-muscled ( strict, striated ) river-hanging-over one would hold.
•
You could loop a rope there Nearabout the bicep
Whap you up a wide horsehead knot to grip. To ride good Rid fear Let’s
not feature no blackflow flowin’ down below.
•
Cling strong till your hands numb till your blood goes.
Swing low. You could bellow you could holler while you’re at it ( Bending with you
not to break ) You could set yourself swayin’ till kingdom come Till he hears you till
•
he weighs you. You could ring rightful like the tongue of a bell.