birch trees

Lyrics

​i. birch trees SUSAN ​​my grandmother's house ​stands beyond a grove of thin white birch trees ​you can peel the bark; ​it rolls up like a cigar ​you can press it to your lips ​whistle a birch bird song ​coming up the drive ​white gravel crunches at your feet ​one gets in your shoe ​nibbles at your toes ​and the birds; ​the air is latticed with birds of brilliant colors ​cerulean crests ​vermilion breasts ​and butterflies flutter by ​in bursts of ochre and amber ​now i had been in finland at a blacksmithing festival ​researching my next novel ​and i didn't have any money ​and the flights were a mess ​and i didn't have any reason to go back to new york ​and so i went to latvia ​i never really knew my grandmama— ​a static birthday phone call every year or two ​my mother said she'd always been a hermit ​grandpapa left them both ​and when she died, some six years ago ​her home was left behind ​in the trust of a transylvanian caretaker ​and so ​my grandmother's house ​stood silent and empty ​waiting for me / / / (a ghostly porch swing fades onto the stage. sitting in the middle of it is grandmother. she dances from the swing a bit.) ​on the porch there is a wooden swing ​hung on rusty thin chains ​i'd sit there in the evening ​think of grandmama doing the same ​did she sit on the left side? ​or did she sit on the right? ​or the middle… ​i sat in the middle ​listening to the phasing crickets ​i'd think about my grandmama ​and i'd think about my ex ​stare up at the stars ​and smoke another cigarette ​at night ​the birch trees stand like ghosts ​when you're nursing a heartache ​sometimes you look back ​trying to find the reasons ​your life has gone off track ​parents and grandparents ​every branch along the tree ​trying to trace the tumor ​that ended up in me ​and the birch trees stand like ghosts ​oh the birch trees stand like ghosts (grandmother and the swing disappear.)