I would like to read--
somebody asked me to read another series of poems
and then just a couple more.
Some people tell me I'm very religious
and I haven't been in church.
The last time I was in church was a long time ago,
and I fell out of the pulpit at the time.
Because I was going to--
I was going to speak at a Founder's Day for my father,
my father's church.
And I thought I would talk about my mother,
because they didn't know her very well.
My mother was sanctified.
So, this was kind of what, if you know anything
about churches that was a little tackier church than Baptist.
And so I thought I'd talk about my wonders mother.
And I had forgotten that I had stepped up into the pulpit,
you know.
And I was going to town, I mean I was so holy.
And I finished with a great flourish
and forgot to step down and fell out of the pulpit.
And then a lady who had taught me in Sunday school
when I fell said, that's her all right.
And I thought, you know, I had no idea
that my reputation was what it was but it apparently was.
Anyway, while on one hand, I don't guess--
I don't think I'm particularly religious.
I do seem to have in every book something about,
some kind of biblical thing.
And these are some poems about Mary.
I'm quite fond of Mary.
I was listening to television today
and they were talking about people having Pat Boone.
He likes to talk about stuff like this.
And he was talking about people having a personal relationship
with God and I like to think I have
a very personal relationship.
But I tell him off all the time, you know I'd laugh
and I tease him.
But he's real fond of me and and I'm fond of him too.
I guess he tells me off periodically,
just to keep me honest.
Well this is about Mary and it is
written in a kind of West Indian dialect.
I wanted to write about how Mary might have felt about it all.
I think she may have thought that this
was one of those mixed blessings that comes from time to time.
And I wanted to use a language that was
particular to Rastafarianism.
Rastafarianism is a sect in Jamaica.
People wear wonderful hair called dreadlocks, do they not.
And the belief is that Rastafari who is Haile Selassie, was God
and that he is going to return and take us from Babylon.
And there is a kind of wonderful language
and I believe that all language is possible for poetry.
Some people believe there's only a certain kind of language
that can be used in poems.
A language which seems to include
nightingales for some reason.
And I like to believe that all language is
available for poetry.
And so, I thought about this little sect in Jamaica
and I thought about how the early Christians were
a little sect where they were and they may well have
had a kind of private language.
Anyway, someone asked me to read this and so I'll share.
There are a few poems.
The first is called The Astrologer Predicts
At Mary's Birth.
This is the astrologer when they see Mary.
This one, lie down on grass.
This one, old men will follow calling mother, mother.
She womb, will blossom then die.
This one she hide from evening.
At a certain time, when she hears something
it will burn her ear.
At a certain place, when she sees something
it will break her eye.