please read this

i taught poetry today to eighty-nine fifteen year olds. "here kids, here's a poem. it can make you cry, laugh, mourn, understand, change........good luck."

this is one of my favorite poems. i have put the words here so you may read them. then download it from itunes (because justin vernon deserves tangible compensation for bringing beauty into the world) and let it change your life, heal your heart, hold the storm, peel away the shell. it will do all of those things.

then, if you still want more, read this.

re: stacks

This my excavation and today is kumran 

Everything that happens is from now on 

This is pouring rain 

This is paralyzed  

I keep throwing it down two-hundred at a time 

It's hard to find it when you knew it 

When your money's gone 

And you're drunk as hell  

On your back with your racks as the stacks as your load 

In the back and the racks and the stacks are your load 

In the back with your racks and you're un-stacking your load  

I've been twisting to the sun, I needed to replace 

The fountain in the front yard is rusted out 

All my love was down  

In a frozen ground  

There's a black crow sitting across from me; his wiry legs are crossed 

And he's dangling my keys he even fakes a toss 

Whatever could it be 

That has brought me to this loss?  

This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization 

It's the sound of the unlocking and the lift away 

Your love will be 

Safe with me