MAGDALENE
Mary Magdalene lay down
with the sons of men
And knew them as sons of God
There was no sin in Magdalene
for she saw no sin in them
Dearest of all to the carpenter’s son
was the one who could see him most clear
For there was no sin in Magdalene
and she saw no sin in him
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HANGING TEN WITH DEBBIE
When she was alive
she was just so damn alive
It makes her being dead
just so damn much more dead
We were together
the day the Challenger exploded
and the day the Gulf War started
Violence all around but we never fought
We just laughed and played
and howled at the moon
And surfed ten years
on that sweet sexual edge of almost
then she died
If either of us
had leaned ten degrees closer
we might have caught the perfect curl
and saved the world
Three degrees and we might have been
two reef torn bodies on the sand
but I block out scenes like that
I just see her innocent wave goodbye
I just watch the uncaught waves roll by
FROST BITE
On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow
In January on the Wood River
the laces got wet and then stiff
and could not be untied
Walked the whimpering long mile home
in one frozen skate and one warm boot
part of my foot and all my toes
numb and milky white
On the prairies they know
that you have to use snow
Too much warmth all at once
can bring the feeling rushing back
with more pain than you can stand
I have since learned
and this is the sad part
It is the same way with the heart
A BOAT CALLED TRUTH
We have known and loved each other
deeply all these years
Each one or both always honouring some
relationship with someone else
So we never quite say it
and we never quite do it
One sunny day in Santa Barbara harbour
we see the name “TRUTH” on a pretty boat
We take each other’s pictures by the stern
but we never get on the boat
LULLABY TO POLARITY
The more the more you are woman
the more I am man
The more you rest soft in my arms
the stronger they become
The more the more I am man
the more you are woman
The more the strength
in the shape of the spoon
The more the more even in sleep
you curl up and melt
into sugar and good medicine
BIBLICAL
I would like to know you biblically
With all the power and passion
of the old testament
All the love and forgiveness
of the new
YOU ARE THE U IN HOUSTON TO ME
How could I ever leave you love
if you didn’t live in Houston
If it wasn’t for the humid swamp
and the trash along the bayou
how could I say good-bye to you
You know I love you dearly
and it ain’t you that makes me run
but Houston traffic’s far from fun
and every Bubba’s got a gun
Yet even with all of that
and the country’s worst damn air
you know that I’ll keep coming back
as long as you are there
And I’ll keep leaving Houston too
after a muggy smoggy day or two
One of these days I hope you know
I’ll take you with me when I go
LOUIS AND SUZANNE
Suzanne gets cancer
she gets cancer real bad
The doctors get out their big guns
They wage war with everything they’ve got
The cancer laughs at the doctors
It breaks out on many new fronts
The doctors, defeated, suggest surrender
Louis and Suzanne go to Mexico instead
Suzanne drinks fresh juices and does cleanses
Louis quits his job and takes care of Suzanne
Suzanne gets well
Louis takes care of many people
He took care of people in asbestos mines
For years he has not slept well
and he does not breathe well in the mornings
The doctors are treating him for sleep apnoea
Early this year he has a bad cough
The doctors do X-rays, Louis has cancer
Too much asbestos, ten years growing
It is too late for the doctors, or Mexico
Louis dies, life is funny
FOR DEBBIE AND DAD
– by Carolyn Meili
As America reeled
in its new found vulnerability
Its myths exploding over and over
on wide-screen TV
You found a friend
perhaps the only one I have ever seen
who demanded your best
but not your sympathy
Now, in her absence
we discover our own vulnerability
and the strength in it
I watched the moon tonight
and she is full
Beaming among us
(written by my daughter Carolyn Meili, who met Debbie a week before Debbie’s death. Said she had never made and lost a friend so fast)
DEBBIE OH DEBBIE
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because no one ever asked you
hard enough to stay
Debbie oh Debbie
were you always so beautiful strong
that no one ever thought to carry you along
Debbie oh Debbie
the brave wolf that still shows its throat
and bleeds inside of its coat
Debbie oh Debbie had we but loved
less wisely, but more well
who can tell who can tell
Debbie oh Debbie
are you thinking of going away
because I never asked you hard enough to stay