Practice for Outside Situations, and: Uncalled-for

Practice for Outside Situations

Practice for Outside Situations:

– This is a valley. This was a valley. This was a beautiful valley.– The boy sits on the sidewalk. The man stands in the square. Birds fly to trees.– Where is the governor's house? Where are pastures? Where are the rivulets?– The footpath is steep. The river flows to a Great Lake. The bridge is narrow.– The fish are green sunfish. The water is frozen. That plant is pokeweed.– Where is Elm Street? Which are the elms? Where is Maple Grove?– Please repeat that address. Did you say Route 12? Please repeat that address.– Which mammals are hunted? Do you eat leaves of trees? May we rest here?– The girl cuts a stalk. The wind blows at night. The siren is loud.– What digs the large holes? Who opens the gate? Where are the berries?– Pokeweed is poison. The gold moth is rare. The rock is conglomerate.– We cross the stream. We have crossed the stream. We will cross the stream.– Here is a burlap sack. There is a shell. This is a blue feather.

Uncalled-for

You can't predict the skeleton crew or day or year brown rain will wash. Unless you carve witch hazel in the old style, lesser than a nightstick, capped with sprouts of pig hair from the muck trail. Others say it takes no more than a piece of paper, an arrangement of un-called for words, pawpaw seeds on a string, a broken white cup, five stones.