Dear Deborah,
They tell me that your heart
has been found in Iowa,
pumping along Interstate 35.
Do you want it back?
When the cold comes on
this fast, it's Iowa again--
where pollen disperses
evenly on the dented Fords,
where white houses sag
by the town's corn silos,
where people in the houses
sicken on corn dust.
Auctions sell entire farms.
It's not the auctions that's upsetting
but what they sell, the ragged towel
or the armless doll, for a dollar.
I hear they've found
an eye of yours in Osceola
calling out to your mouth in Davis City.
That mouth of yours is in the bar,
the only place left in town,
slow dancing and smoking.
It's no wonder you look so pale.
Ever wish you'd done more
with your thirty years?
Seeing you last week I wonder
if you crave that sky
filled with the milky way
or the sight of Amish girls in blue
at sunset against wheat-colored prairie grass.
Here, the trees are full of gossip.
They're waiting to see what you'll do next.
poem by Deborah Ager
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
Back home in iowa
oh, Iowa your green rolling hills,
to be back here, brings my heart thrills,
my child hood was spent here
many memories have I, that are very dear.
The capitol city has changed so much,
many years away from you, that I lost touch
to see the tall green corn
and back here where I was born.
Some things do stay the same,
like the hot humid weather, you can't be blamed
progress does come every where
as I look around and do stare
Iowa, you have come a long way,
and to see all the changes, makes me sway
you're still beautiful, as when I left
but the changes, my heart does cleft.
Sunset Now
Sun crazed in our room
It was an endless afternoon
It seemed that we were so immune
The nights were stronger and longer
I fell on my pillow saying
Tell the world that luckys calling
Gold dust falling
Here in action town
Sunset now
Sunset now
Sunset now
Sunset now
Blade flew into town
In time to watch the sun go down
He said the new prince must be found
The message shattered our windows
We know it was over, saying
Tell the boys that were not handing
Over any part
Of action town
Sunset now
Sunset now
Sunset now now! now!
Pay out, run out, work out, die out
Action town (action town)
If you have the name
Then you win the game
In action town (action town)
Bang bang youre dead
Its raining bread
Sunset now
Now that we have gone
Do we have strength to carry on
It seems like all our sun has shone
It seems our dice are as cold as ice
But something in my heart keeps saying
Tell the world that luckys coming
Lines are humming
Here comes action town
Sunset now (to fade)
song performed by by Heaven 17
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Women's harvest song
I am waving a ripe sunflower,
I am scattering sunflower pollen to the four world-quarters.
I am joyful because of my melons,
I am joyful because of my beans,
I am joyful because of my squashes.
The sunflower waves.
So did the corn wave
When the wind blew against it,
So did my white corn bend
When the red lightning descended upon it,
It trembled as the sunflower
When the rain beat down its leaves.
Great is a ripe sunflower,
And great was the sun above my corn-fields.
His fingers lifted up the corn-ears,
His hands fashioned my melons,
And set my beans full in the pods.
Therefore my heart is happy
And I will lay many blue prayer-sticks at the shrine of Ta-wa.
I will give corn to Ta-wa,
Yellow corn, blue corn, black corn.
I wave the sunflower,
The sunflower heavy with pollen.
I wave it, I turn it, I sing,
Because I am happy.
poem by Amy Lowell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Let us tackle the big issues with bold ideas that transform Iowa to accomplish our shared mission to grow Iowa, and realize our shared vision of Iowa as the best place to live, work and raise a family.
quote by Thomas Vilsack
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Homelessness In Winter
back about 30 years ago,
living on the streets in Charlotte...
finally found a job... was lucky enough
to have a place to take a shower...
sleeping in the backseat of a broke
down Ford Maverick... cold winter...
got up and walked 4 miles to work
every morning,4 miles 'home' in the
evening...
went on for a couple months before
i got a place to live...
so yes i know what homelessness
feels like...and i cant help thinking
about all the empty foreclosed houses....
empty houses, homeless people....
back then, even if you couldnt find a
real job, they had a place where you
could go and line up to do day work...
worked all day for about 25 dollars...
if you couldnt do that, you could always
sell blood.... i dont know what they do
now....i just know it's a hard life...and if
you've got family, got kids...
something to think about the next time
you see a homeless person walking the
streets!
poem by Eric Cockrell
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mr. Brown
[Bob Marley]
(Ooh - ooh - ooh - ooh)
(It's Mr Brown) Mr Brown is a clown who rides to town in a coffin.
(Well, here he comes) In the top is ... three rows on top and two inside there.
Oh, what a confusion! Ooh, yeah, yeah!
What a botheration! Ooh, now, now!
Who is Mr Brown? I wanna know now!
He is nowhere to be found.
From Mandeville to slide-a-ville, coffin runnin' around,
Upsetting, upsetting, upsetting the town,
Asking for Mr Brown.
From Mandeville to slide-a-ville, coffin runnin' around,
upsetting, upsetting, upsetting the town,
Asking for Mr Brown.
I wanna know who (is Mr Brown)?
Is Mr Brown controlled by remote?
O-o-oh, calling duppy conqueror,
I'm the ghost-catcher!
This is your chance, oh big, big Bill bull-bucka,
Take your chance! Prove yourself! Oh, yeah!
Down in parade
People runnin like a masquerade.
The police make a raid,
But the people - oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah - they think it
fade.
What a thing in town
Crows chauffeur-driven around,
Skankin' as if they had never known
The man they call "Mr Brown".
I can tell you where he's from now:
From Mandeville to slide-a-ville, coffin runnin' around,
Upsetting, upsetting, upsetting the town,
Asking for Mr Brown.
From Mandeville to slide-a-ville -
/fadeout/
song performed by by Bob Marley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Word Of Mouth
Ive been trying to get a message to you,
But the operator cant put me through,
Because the vandals went and wrecked all the telephones.
And all my enemies are spreading bad news,
You wont call me, thats why Im calling you,
To put you straight about the rumors theyre spreading about me back home.
I should have known, sooner or later,
Youd get the news, sooner or later,
The word of mouth will get right back to you.
Somehow we lost communication,
My only chance in my situation,
Is that the word of mouth gets my message through.
The word of mouth,
The word of mouth,
But who are they to say the things they do?
The word of mouth says that Ive gone insane,
That wine and women have affected my brain.
Well whos the big mouth spreading the news again?
The word of mouth says Im round the bend,
Its all over, this is the end.
Exaggeration sure gets the better of people who send[? ].
The word of mouth,
The word of mouth,
But who are they to say the things they do?
The word of mouth said I should be put in my place.
The word is out Im in disgrace -- a waste of space.
But if they say it, say it to my face.
People talking, trying to dig up the dirt,
There are so many lies around.
They spread their gossip and the rumors around this town.
Word of mouth, face to face,
My word of mouth has stated my case,
And Im saying Im coming back home to you.
You should have know sooner or later,
Youd get the news sooner or later,
The word of mouth will get right back to you.
The word of mouth,
Shut your mouth,
Shut your face!
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The King Of Sunset Town
(music: marillion lyrics: steve hogarth & john helmer)
A ragged man came shuffling through
A puppet king on the 4th of june
And butterflies from all around
Settled on his paper crown
A pretty sight it seemed to be
An avenue of eternal peace
But he said, what is here can soon burn down...
Im the king of sunset town
Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
Thats the law round here
Said the king of sunset town
And in the night he comes to me
And the square becomes a battlefield
Of staring eyes that cant explain
The insanity and the greater game
Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
Thats the law round here
Said the king of sunset town
Thats the law round here
A ragged man came shuffling through
The corridors of this white place
And as he lay his body down
I saw the scars that lined his face
And injured souls came to his bed
To hear the stories he would tell
Of butterflies and summertimes
And everyone assembled here
Remembers how it used to be
Before the 27th came
This place will never be the same
He said
Im the king of sunset town
Watch a big wheel turning round
Some go up and some go down
Some go thirsty some just drown
Thats the law round here
Thats the law round here
Said the king of sunset town
Im the king of sunset town
song performed by by Marillion
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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As the 29th state to join the United States of America, it is our turn to show the nation what represents Iowa. Our commitment to quality education, hard work, and small-town values are all represented in the Iowa quarter.
quote by Leonard Boswell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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King Of Sunset Town
Track 1 of _Season's End_
A ragged man came shuffling through
A puppet king on the fourth of June
And butterflies from all around
Settled on his paper crown
A pretty sight it seemed to be
An avenue of eternal peace
But he said 'What is here can soon burn down...
I'm the King of Sunset Town'
Watch a big wheel turning around
Some go up, some go down.
Some go thirsty, some just drown
'That's the law around here'
Said the King of Sunset Town
And in the night he comes to me
And the square becomes a battlefield
Of staring eyes that can't explain
The insanity and the greater game
A ragged man came shuffling through
The corridors of this white place
And as he lay his body down
I saw the scars that lined his face
And injured souls came to his bed
To hear the stories he would tell
Of Butterflies and Summertimes
And everyone assembled here
Remembers how it used to be
Before the 27th came
This place will never be the same
And he said..
'I'm the King of Sunset Town'
Watch a big wheel turning around
Some go up, some go down.
Some go thirsty, some just drown
'That's the law around here'
Said the King of Sunset Town
[JOHN HELMER and STEVE HOGARTH
song performed by by Marillion
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Skeleton Man
Im a skeleton Im a skeleton man
Hold my skeleton hold my skeleton hand
I met a child in the hills from the people of the corn
Its been 800 years since this child was born
And in his ribs I found a pearl
An offering from the corn world
Hold my hand
Well walk in the hot sun
Hold my hand
In the hot sand
Down in the valley where there used to be the farms
Doctor digger found a room full of arms
And now theres just a dog that barks
Chained to a one-man trailer park
song performed by by Frank Black
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ennis
Ennis will forever be enshrined in my mind,
A small mark on the map from another place and time.
Memories dimmed by many years as though cut with a knife,
First seventeen years of love and laughter in my life.
In a town bowed down by poverty struggling to survive,
Back lanes of half-door houses waiting someone to arrive.
Narrow winding streets full of friends and farmers’ horses,
Pompous priests dressed in black who always walked on water,
And girls in long green dresses that came down below their knees,
Moving past on bicycles; boys waiting for a breeze,
And cows moving slowly herded down towards the water,
Where their blood will fill the Fergus from the houses of slaughter.
And the Christian Brothers School where Brother Brien taught,
No such thing as freedom especially freedom of thought.
We learned everything in Gaelic in the very ancient script,
Letters from the Book of Kells or some ancient warrior’s crypt.
Where are the guys I knew so well; stole by emigration?
Or shied from skirts that only hurt and joined some congregation.
And now the town is filled with cars and strangers wall to wall,
A noisy rush of foreigners in a one-way traffic crawl.
And people don’t have the time to talk or gossip half the day.
They’re in a hurry, got to scurry, got to make their pay.
And traffic lights with tourist types looking out from buses,
This madness of modern times, I wonder ‘bout the pluses.
poem by James Bredin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Ennis July 8th,2012
Ennis will forever be enshrined in my mind,
A small mark on the map from another place and time,
Memories dimmed by many years as though cut with a knife,
First seventeen years of love and laughter in my life,
In a town bowed down by poverty struggling to survive,
Back lanes of half-door houses waiting someone to arrive.
Narrow winding streets full of friends and farmers' horses,
Pompous priests dressed in black who always walked on water,
And girls in long green dresses that came down below their knees,
Moving past on bicycles; boys waiting for a breeze,
And cows moving slowly herded down towards the water,
Where their blood will fill the Fergus from the houses of slaughter.
And the Christian Brothers School where Brother Brien taught,
No such thing as freedom, especially freedom of thought,
We learned everything in Gaelic in the very ancient script,
Letters from the Book of Kells or some ancient warrior's crypt,
Where are the guys I knew so well; stole by emigration?
Or shied from skirts that only hurt and joined some congregation.
And now the town is filled with cars and strangers wall to wall,
A noisy rush of foreigners in a one-way traffic crawl,
And people don't have time to talk or gossip half the day,
They're in a hurry, got to scurry, got to make their pay,
And traffic lights and tourist types looking out from buses,
The madness of these modern times; I wonder 'bout the pluses.'
poem by James Bredin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Get Out Of This Town
Edwin McCain
Get Out Of This Town
Im rolling thunder with the top down
Its time to get out, get out, get out
Crescent City high-life
Dancing with the devils wife
Just like some voodoo dream
Living on 4th and Magazine
A black rose and a chicken bone
I dont know if Ill make it home
Another night at Snake and Jakes
Just a little more than I can take
Its time to get out of this town
Theres no more fun to be found
Im rolling thunder with the top down
Its time to get out, get out, get out
Its time to get out of this town
Theres no more fun to be found
Im rolling thunder with the top down
Its time to get out, get out, get out
Lear jets and limousines
Found my way to the Vegas scene
Hit hard on a sixteen
The pit boss is getting mean
Just waiting on my car
Rolling like the Junkyard
Three days and some big scars
That's what it takes to be a rock star
Its time to get out of this town
Theres no more fun to be found
Im rolling thunder with the top down
Its time to get out, get out, get out
It's time to get out of this town
There's no more fun to be found
I'm rolling thunder with the top down
It's time to get out, get out, get out
I'm falling down
I'm falling down
Its time to get out of this town
Theres no more fun to be found
Im rolling thunder with the top down
It's time to get out, get out, get out
song performed by by Edwin McCain
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Ennis Once Upon A Time
ENNIS ONCE UPON A TIME
BY
JAMES BREDIN
Ennis will forever be enshrined in my mind,
A small mark on the map from another place and time.
Memories dimmed by many years as though cut with a knife,
First seventeen years of love and laughter in my life.
In a town bowed down by poverty struggling to survive,
Back lanes of half-door houses waiting someone to arrive.
Narrow winding streets full of friends and farmers' horses,
Pompous priests dressed in black who always walked on water,
And girls in long green dresses that came down below their knees,
Moving past on bicycles; boys waiting for a breeze,
And cows moving slowly herded down towards the water,
Where their blood will fill the Fergus from the houses of slaughter.
And the Christian Brothers School where Brother Brien taught,
No such thing as freedom especially freedom of thought.
We learned everything in Gaelic in the very ancient script,
Letters from the Book of Kells or some ancient warrior's crypt.
Where are the guys I knew so well; stole by emigration?
Or shied from skirts that only hurt and joined some congregation.
And now the town is filled with cars and strangers wall to wall,
A noisy rush of foreigners in a one-way traffic crawl.
And people don't have the time to talk or gossip half the day.
They're in a hurry, got to scurry, got to make their pay.
And traffic lights with tourist types looking out from buses,
This madness of modern times, I wonder ‘bout the pluses.
OCT 31ST,2012
poem by James Bredin
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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White Houses
Crashed on the floor when i moved in
This little bungalow with some strange new friends
Stayed up too late, and I'm too thin
We promise each other it's till the end
Now we're spinning empty bottles, it's the fives of us
With pretty-eyed boys girls die to trust
I can't resist the day oh no i can't resist the day
And Jenny screams out and it's no pose
'Cause when she dances she goes and goes
Beer through the nose on an inside joke
And I'm so excited I haven't spoken
And she's so pretty and she's so sure
Maybe I'm more clever than a girl like her
The summer's all in bloom
The summer's ending soon
It's all right
And it's nice not to be so alone
But I hold on to secrets in white houses
Maybe I'm a little bit over my head
I come undone at the things he said
He's so funny in his bright red shirt
we were all in love and we all got hurt
I sneak into his car's cracked leather seat
The smell of gasoline in the summer heat
Boy we're going way too fast
It's all too sweet to last...
It's alright and i put myself in his hands
but i hold on to secrets in White Houses
Love or something ignites in my veins
and i pray it never fades in white houses
My first time
Hard to explain
Rush of blood, oh
And a little bit of pain
On a cloudy day
It's more common than you think
He's my first mistake
Maybe you were all faster than me
We gave each other up so easily
These silly little wounds will never mend
I feel so far from where I've been
So I go and I will not be back here again
I'm gone as the day is fading on white houses
I lie, put my injuries all in the dust
In my heart is the 5 of us in white houses
And you, maybe you'll remember me
What I gave is yours to keep
In white houses
In white houses
In white houses.
song performed by by Vanessa Carlton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Plain Jane Country
(eddie raven)
I read your letter just this morning
The first you've wrote since you've been gone
You've finally found yourself a home
You've bought a new car, a great big red one
With a top that rolls right down
You must be something in san fransisco
A dressed up, painted country clown
You're fakin' it well, but it's easy to tell
You're plain jane country come to town
The pace is too fast and you're out of your class
You're plain jane country come to town
You know i love you, at least you ought to
I've loved you all of my livin' days
You got no business makin' changes
Yeah girl, i love your country ways
Go sell that red car, catch an airplane
And i'll be waiting when you land
Yeah, get a white dress, find a preacher
We'll get some rings to fit your hand
You're fakin' it well, but it's easy to tell
You're plain jane country come to town
The pace is too fast and you're out of your class
You're plain jane country come to town
You're plain jane country come to town
You're plain jane country come to town
song performed by by Roy Orbison
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Christmas Trees
The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine,
I said, “There aren’t enough to be worth while.”
“I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over.”
“You could look.
But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north.
He said, “A thousand.”
“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”
He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”
Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.
poem by Robert Frost
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Ghost Town
This town is becoming like a ghost town;
Many of our local shops are closing down.
Once upon a time, this town was really hopping,
But now people go elsewhere for their shopping.
The life from our town has been sucked out,
And nowadays there is hardly anyone about.
Local people go to other towns and cities:
That it has ended up this way, is a real pity.
The town's population is rapidly growing,
But trade in our shops is rapidly slowing.
Many units stand empty for years and years:
Owners found the rents were just way too dear.
We need some life breathed back into town;
We need to turn this situation back around.
Of help for new businesses, we need much more,
So that our town can be the place it was before.
poem by Angela Wybrow
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Falling Down
I'm falling down
And fifteen thousand people scream
They were all begging for your dream
I'm falling down
Five thousand houses burning down
No-one is gonna save this town
Too late
I already found what I was looking for
You know it wasn't here
No it wasn't here
I was calling your name
But you would never hear me sing
You wouldn't let me begin
So I'm crawling away
'Cause you broke my heart in two
No
song performed by by Muse from Showbiz
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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