Katrina's Fair

[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: Robert Buck ]



greta's cedar hope chest
is full of pamphlets
glass shelves of romantic vignettes
a journal laced with sedimentary prose

norma gathers and collects vintage photoplays
hair combs valentines

lillian allows the animals to scratch
leather crack
mail collect in the box coatings peel

agnes veiled cathedral dweller
smiles with benevolent pain
it's katrina's fair tuesday morning
as she with caution unlatches the flat door
she alone cascades to the basement
careful not to spoil her
calico printed pinafore
composite traits mannerists
all others dissipate

margauritte vigilant dwells upon frigid casements

sarah's thoughts in the velocity
accusations always pierce and pass

clara abandons her passions for distastes
miss lenora p. sinclair
early for coffee in the pool
"i'm resituating all your words"
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sylvia keeps beasts in jars labeled
kingdom phylum class order family genus species