Sackcloth
I made sackcloth my garment once, by cutting
arm and neck holes into a burlap bag.
A croker sack they called it. Sackdragger
they called the man who dragged a croker sack
between the cotton rows to pick. He dragged
a gunnysack behind him in the ditch
collecting empties. Him they chose
the Likeliest to Sack Seed in the feed store,
or to suck seed. He was your daddy. He sacked
groceries part-time, and they jeered:
you sorry sack of shit. Sackcloth,
which Job sewed upon his skin, was goat hair.
God who clothed the heavens with such blackness
said, I make sackcloth their covering.
Isaiah understood. God had him speak a word
in season to the weary. Speak, Isaiah, now, to me.
Before the stars like green figs in a windstorm
drop, the sun is black as sackcloth, and the moon
becomes as blood. My soul is weary. Speak,
Isaiah. Sing. I was a scholar as a boy:
I cut the neck and arm holes into the burlap,
pulled it on, and cinched it with a hank of rope:
what I have done from then till now is itch.
poem by Brooks Haxton
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Related quotes
A Plea
Writers of baseball, attention!
When you're again on the job-
When, in your rage for invention,
You with the language play hob-
Most of your dope we will pardon,
Though of the moth ball it smack;
But-cut out the 'sinister garden,'
Chop the 'initial sack.'
Rake poor old Roget's 'Thesaurus'
For phrases fantastic and queer;
And though on occasions you bore us,
We will refrain from a sneer.
We will endeavour to harden
Ourselves to the rest of your clack,
If you'll cut out the 'sinister garden'
And chop the 'initial sack.'
Singers of words that are scrambled,
Say, if you will, that he 'died,'
Write, if you must, that he 'ambled'-
We shall be last to deride.
But us to the Forest of Arden,
Along with the misanthrope Jaques,
If you cling to the 'sinister garden'
And stick to 'initial sack.'
Speak of the 'sphere's aberration,'
Mention the 'leathery globe,'
Say he got 'free transportation'-
Though that try the patience of Job.
But if you're wise you'll discard en-
Cumbrances such as we thwack-
Especially 'sinister garden'
And the 'initial sack.
poem by Franklin P. Adams
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An empty sack can't stand up; a full sack cannot bend.
Virgin Islander proverbs
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sack Full Of Stones
(Travis Tritt/Marty Stuart)
I used to be the kind of guy
I could laugh as well as cry
With a heart feather-soft and summer-warm
Since you've left me I've been faced
With emptiness that's been replaced
With a heart that's hard and heavy as a sack full of stones
I never thought I'd ever see
The man my mirror is showing me
Lord I must have aged ten years
Since you've been gone
The longest mile you'll ever crawl
Is the one after you fall
Draggin' around a heart that's heavy as a sack full of stones
With the world upon my shoulders
And my feelings on my sleeve
Every time I close my eyes at night
All I do is watch you leave
But by far the biggest curse of being left alone
Is draggin' around a heart that's heavy as a sack full of stones
Well I tried turning to a bottle
But the bottle turned on me
I've tried everything
But nothing sets your memory free
I'm serving life here in a prison
That we once called a home
With a heart that's cold and heavy as a sack full of stones
With the world upon my shoulders
And my feelings on my sleeve
Every time I close my eyes at night
All I do is watch you leave
But by far the biggest curse of being left alone
Is draggin' around a heart that's heavy as a sack full of stones
Yes by far the biggest curse of being left alone
Is draggin' around a heart that's heavy as a sack full of stones
song performed by by Travis Tritt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Apache Rose Peacock
Sittin' on a sack of beans
Sittin' down in New Orleans
You wouldn't believe what I've seen
Sitting on that sack of beans
Lunatics on pogo sticks
Another southern fried freak on a crucifix
Hicks don't mix with politics
People on the street just kickin' to the licks
Yes my favorite place to be
Is not a land called Honah Lee (MI.)
Mentally or physically
I wanna be in New Orleans
Oh good brother just when I thought
That I had seen it all
My eyes popped out
song performed by by Red Hot Chili Peppers from Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Sack Owoe
Always screaming cause Im suffering so
Lifes done never such a terrible blow
Thing Im in is just a sack owoe
Misery company and Im feeling low
Trouble follows me wherever I go
Thing Im in is just a sack owoe
Trouble one thing I understand
Seems to be a part of me
Misery and me go hand in hand
Never ever let me be
Sure as Im born one thing I know
Thing Im in is just a sack owoe
Repeat first and second verse
song performed by by Van Morrison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Saturday's Child
Some are teethed on a silver spoon,
With the stars strung for a rattle;
I cut my teeth as the black racoon--
For implements of battle.
Some are swaddled in silk and down,
And heralded by a star;
They swathed my limbs in a sackcloth gown
On a night that was black as tar.
For some, godfather and goddame
The opulent fairies be;
Dame Poverty gave me my name,
And Pain godfathered me.
For I was born on Saturday--
"Bad time for planting a seed,"
Was all my father had to say,
And, "One mouth more to feed."
Death cut the strings that gave me life,
And handed me to Sorrow,
The only kind of middle wife
My folks could beg or borrow.
poem by Countee Cullen
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That was the - It was an exciting time because it was as though I was sort of tied up in a paper bag or in a gunny sack with a rope around the neck of it, and all of a sudden with the acceptance of that first book everything sort of spilled out!
quote by Robert McCloskey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Groceries
Once again, here in the grocery store line
All the stuff in the basket, is going to be mine
Can I afford this, or should I put it back?
Should I stock up, or carry out a small sack?
I know there are many mouths to feed
Do I buy much, or just what I need?
Sell the horse, and mortgage the farm
Got to buy groceries, sound the alarm
Why does food have to cost so much cash?
Why do groceries have to be my stash?
Here today and gone tomorrow
Fridge left empty, so much sorrow!
poem by Donna Nimmo
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Why Does It Make You Weep
Take what you value,
And put it in a sack.
Leave it where it's at,
And don't look back.
Why does it make you weep?
When you made it were you sleeping?
Take what you value,
And put it in a sack.
Leave it where it's at,
And don't look back.
Look around and see what's on the streets.
That reality you made to keep.
Why does it make you weep?
When you made it were you sleeping?
Look around and see what's on the streets.
That reality you made to keep.
Why does it make you weep?
When you made it were you sleeping?
Take what you value,
And put it in a sack.
Leave it where it's at,
And don't look back.
Why does it make you weep?
When you made it were you sleeping?
Take what you value,
And put it in a sack.
Leave it where it's at,
And don't look back.
Look around and see what's on the streets.
That reality you made to keep.
Why does it make you weep?
When you made it were you sleeping?
Take what you value,
And put it in a sack.
Leave it where it's at,
And don't look back.
Unstrap and remove those shackles.
It's an addiction you've got to detach...
And avoid interaction.
And avoid interaction.
And avoid interaction.
And avoid interaction.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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I'm gonna give them the advice that I always took myself, that it's better to get to know somebody before you jump into the sack with them. Because then if you jump into the sack and fall in love, and you liked them already, you're home free.
quote by Pia Zadora
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What the Ghost of the Gambler Said
Where now the huts are empty,
Where never a camp-fire glows,
In an abandoned cañon,
A Gambler's Ghost arose.
He muttered there, "The moon's a sack
Of dust." His voice rose thin:
"I wish I knew the miner-man.
I'd play, and play to win.
In every game in Cripple-creek
Of old, when stakes were high,
I held my own. Now I would play
For that sack in the sky.
The sport would not be ended there.
'Twould rather be begun.
I'd bet my moon against his stars,
And gamble for the sun.
poem by Vachel Lindsay
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Consumed by love
Thanks to the hundreds of you who daily
are so eager to enhance my life
and that of my partner
with pills and extensions
giving night-long passion -
now, do you have a cure
for arriving at the office in the morning
exhausted?
It's a tale of two sacks -
hit the sack, or get the sack...
poem by Michael Shepherd
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Casting My Spell On You
A johnson/e johnson
I took a black cat, (a cave bat) threw em in a pot pot, pot pot pot pot
I took a green snake, (a blue snake), tied em in a knot knot, knot knot knot knot
I took the dogs paw, (a calves jaw) hung em on the line line, line line line line
I took a horse hair, (a green bear) made a crazy sign sign, sign sign sign sign
Im casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you
Youll never never be untrue, yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
I took a ghost too, an old shoe, put em in the ground ground, ground ground ground ground
I took and old dish, a dried fish, made a crazy sound sound, sound sound sound sound
I took in a goose egg, a frog leg, put em in a sack sack, sack sack sack sack
I got a hindu, (a tattoo) a genie on my back back, back back back back
Im casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you
Youll never never be untrue, yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah,yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
I took a black cat, (a cave bat) threw em in a pot pot, pot pot pot pot
I took a green snake, (a blue snake), tied em in a knot knot, knot knot knot knot
I took the dogs paw, (a calves jaw) hung em on the line line, line line line line
I took a horse hair, (a green bear) made a crazy sign sign, sign sign sign sign
Im casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you,youll never never be untrue,
Casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you, casting my spell on you, youll never never be untrue,
song performed by by Roy Orbison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Earth, To You I Mourn
Friend and foe
Blood and tears i pour.
Long did thee decay in waste,
Twigs and shells in funeral of fate.
Out were my heart
In darkness and no light.
Lost we in this spherical ditch,
Funeral of sadness and anguish,
Let me, unconsoled and let me wish.
Let me bathe myself in tears,
No more can i bear these fears.
Clotheth in nothing but sack
Oh! am I now lank.
Cry out in quail,
On mournin' we sail
Let our ship sing a song of dirge,
Drop by the seashore and feed on sedge.
Permed my hairs in ash,
Silked my soul in thresh.
poem by Ugoh Ifeanyi
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Parchman Farm
(by mose allison)
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm,
Aint never done no man no harm.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack.
Well, Im putting that cotton in a never-full sack,
A twelve-gauge shotgun at my back.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm.
Im sitting over here on parchman farm,
Aint never done no man no harm.
song performed by by Eric Clapton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Under the sackcloth there is something else.
Liverpool Days
Wavertree road used to have a café there called
“Tasty Toaster, ” business was good till the formidable
M.T. came to power and low paid worker, my main
costumers, got the sack, and told to go on bikes they
couldn’t afford to buy in the first place.
Above the shop lived a lady teacher, she drank, at ten
in the evening, as I closed and cleaned up, I could hear
her sing, when filling her bathtub with water.
One night, it was raining; she must have had a stroke
or something, the water kept running, rotten floor she
and the bathtub ended up in my café.
Under the door the water ran and down the street, since
it was raining few has noticed. Called the police when
I got there, the landlord came, insisted that I had to pay.
I threaten to sue him; he called me a Polish shit and
blamed me for the holocaust I called him a Jewish shit
and blamed him for Palestine. I finally collected my
insurance money and retired from the catering business
poem by Jan Oskar Hansen
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Check it up......
Break the leak and take a pick, hold on to the
end until the whole grain fall to the sack and
repack; always full your strength ready for
another cup for rain to drain
look the sack is empty ready to be pulled, bag
to full standby in the corner, as the needle
wait to sew the fully boggle sack of grain in the
ground
check your face and look up and see the log
in the different eyes, and always believe that its
easy to tell, dirt’s passed in the swollen face of
an enemy
be not like the falling star, thousands and
millions of eyes watch it fall from the heaven,
shouting its beauty, balls of fire reflected in the
tail, waiting to sink in the ocean of the universe
it display
now the moment of the falling star, has started to
glow check it's shine, fun until it become full and
bring it back to shine in the foreign land where
everybody can see
give to no one and leave it not, but take to
every one for you to go and shine; a real star
never evade only it fades.....
poem by Antonio Liao
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