Mother Goose, and: This is a River

35 SCHNEIDER PAT SCHNEIDER MOTHER GOOSE I said today I wish you dead I lay me down to sleep the black hole opening in my head I pray Thee, Lord, to keep all the little marigolds on all the little lawns the little executions in all the little dawns. If I should die before I wake stepping on a crack I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to break my mother's back if I should die. O Jesus I lay me down to sleep I count the little slaughterhouses, count the little sheep standing on a table trying to recite all the little nursery rhymes to make it come out right. 36 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW THIS IS A RIVER This is a river underground, row; row. A sideshow clown stand immobile on the shore. Row the riverboat. The door opening to the vanished fair must be up ahead somewhere. Lighted faces behind glass leer and disappear. We pass an empty boat. An eye is painted on the stern. I cry "Where did all the riders go?" No one seems to want to know. In the morning, was it fair? Was a sign, a promise there? Was there a doorway and a clown or was there only going down? Row the riverboat. The door stand immobile on the shore. Row; row, A sideshow clown. This is a river underground. ...