Bob Holman

After a Hard Rain
    praise poem for Steve Cannon

he’s gone from the hillside
             that demands reparations

             he’s gone from the interchange
that never stops changing

he’s gone from the poem
             that will never be spoken

             he’s gone from the gathering
where all tribes are represented

he’s gone from the future
             that he was already living

             he’s gone from the emails
that delete before receiving

he’s hammering the verses
             on whalebone and cardboard

             he’s drifting in consciousness
where no one can find him

he’s hearing your words
             before you can speak them

             he’s making love in the sunshine
with sunshine brothers & sisters

he’s inventing new ways
            for the galleries to blast off

he can’t believe he has to repeat
             his slogans of simplicity

             he refuses to understand
your system of logic

he matches your bet and
            he raises your anti-

            he manifests his destiny
inside of a flower

he takes truth to the limits and
             leaves us there gasping

             he can’t stop the world so
the world closes around him

he ran off with his lover
             when no one was watching

             he climbed the tall mountains
and fished us from deep waters

he lifted up the wasted
             & wanted the wanted

             his victory will always be
us just sitting around

time is an anchor
             he just tossed overboard

             equality was his breath and
             he breathed it continuously

             there was something about him
             that we’ll never know

             he was that way in all ways
             and we always knew

             he never let on and
             we’ll never know

             his boots were leaking
             and his body was swaying

             they stopped his breath
             but his beat keeps on beating

             his life was the question
             that answered the answer

             his rigorous approach was
             masked in a carnival

             shut-up you dullards and
             give him the floor

             and give him the ceiling
             the windows and door

             and stay out of his way as
             he mows us all down

             and he keeps on walking as
             we all lie down

             and we kneel at his gravestone
             but don’t heed his demands

             he was asking of us to
             give the way he did

             now you must decide how
             your life you will live

             he had nothing to die for
             but he died for us anyway

            he had everything to live for
            but he gave it all away

            now that it’s over
            he says you begin

            now that he’s gone
            you welcome him in

            there’s no one like him
            so it must be him

            and the tribes are all gathering
            and we sit on the rim

            on the edge on the verge
            as we gather around him

            (the tribes are gathering
            and he belongs to them all)

            your communities need you and
            steve is beside you

            ride off in the sunset and
            and pull the night o’er you

            take off your blinders
            sing a new horizon

            there’s nothing more to say
            so now go ignore him

            and he keeps it going
            in the silence that follows

            he keeps it going
            in the silence that follows