"Ooo Baby Baby"

"Ooo Baby Baby"

"Ooo Baby Baby"

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A weekly poem, read by the author.
June 21 2011 10:38 AM

"Ooo Baby Baby"

Click the arrow on the audio player to hear T.R. Hummer read this poem. You can also download the recording or subscribe to Slate's Poetry Podcast on iTunes.

Across a darkness that might be water, cheap paper lanterns burn,
......and their faint luminescence is a distraction from the thought
That if there is no water there, sweetheart, we are screwed—unresolved
......darkness being just that problematic. But, no, it must be water,
Must be that lake just outside of town, because, listen, there is music playing,
......and so there must be crepe paper streamers and a bowl of dismal punch,
Bags of potato chips—God, we hope so—and, in the unsustainable light
......of the pavilion, couples dancing. We might still have that kind of hope
After we die. We might find ourselves in our bodiless bafflement, hanging
......above the expanse of nonbeing, thinking water, thinking dancers—
And Smokey Robinson surrounds us with his voice, another miracle: the old
......prom dream, I might get lucky, just one more angel among the tiny lights.

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T.R. Hummer is author of 10 books of poetry. His 11th, Skandalon, is forthcoming from LSU Press.