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Sonnet for Bob
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Listen
He fought in the European campaign, flying the B-24,
A kid in a flight jacket, in the clean blue cold,
And all his life he didn't say much about the war
But down deep he was always 25 years old.
And he looked at authority with a narrow eye
And when they told him to line up here, he went over there.
A long life and right up until he waved goodbye
He was independent, flying on a wing and a prayer.
Skirting the clouds, looking for what is real,
Poking his camera through the door, lifting the lid,
Watching, looking, listening: that was his deal,
And in his memory, we could do the same, kid.
To give up authority and simply try to see.
I'll look out for you, kid, you watch for me.
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A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?
Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west?
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Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.)
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