GOING BACK TO ELINORE QUELCH
It is still there
Watching her gramophone
retrace the doleful voice
of a cowboy
oh elinore quelch here i am back
in 1944
i say
& she turns listening
to the voice
the gramophone is whispering
taut sorrowful faraway
unwinding
love and mine
& whole life through
she turns & turns
& I say where is bob
remember bob the cowboy
boots the bottles rolling down
the parlor floor
& faraway
In 1944 elinore turns
& turns
slowly listening
& turning off
In her own world
breastless
& curtainless
& faraway
I scream oh elinore it was
your thin thin arms
he snapped
it was your face
& slowly turns
In 1944
holding the voice
that is unwinding
lips & please be mine & all
my dreams
& cannot hear me
screaming it was bob
& elinore
oh elinore quelch
here I am back
-Wesley McNair