Julie Byrne

Wisdom Teeth Song

Julie Byrne


Thank you for letting us stay
Sometimes I lose my mind
But you know me, I always
Manage to keep what nobody needs
Like when you'd rest your tanned hides

Against the door frame
And the black walnut trees and
The sumac and starlings
Were lost in the swell of the creek
And I leaned back like a woman
Baptized in the river of sticks
Oh, silly rabbit, sometimes everyone gets tricked

The museum of natural history
With its new blood and fur and ivory
Left me wanting to know so much more of this world
But you know me, I always
Manage to leave what I most need

Like when the ice broke
And the lake, it did swallow you whole
And the black walnut trees
And the sumac is gone and
The starlings fled from the east
And we're caught in the drifts
Now but we're heading to mexico city