One Side, Now

Thanks to your unwise encouragement, Evelyn's been hounding me to print another poem. So here's a lyric of hers, which will make more sense if you know the Joni Mitchell song to which this offers a counterpoint. She says it's about the news media, and also privilege, but mostly, actually, about clouds. And she tells me she wrote it on Tuesday, when it felt more urgent.

One Side, Now
By Evelyn West

Rows and rows of emerald scales,
in fleeting glimpses from the trails,
And wee maracas on their tails.
I've looked at snakes that way.
But now they only bite my arm.
Their neurotoxin does me harm.
How many people bought the farm,
'cause snakes got in their way?

I've looked at snakes from both ends now,
from front and back, and still somehow,
it's sure the front that I recall.
I really think one end, has the fangs.

A snake can seem like an illusion,
until it gives you an infusion.
When one's causing a contusion,
that's when you know a snake.
Well, I've seen clouds from airplanes too.
They look like feather canyons, true,
but only till they're over you (for six months)
can you see clouds that way.

I s'pose hard to know the truth
in a Hollywood recording booth,
where clouds are hazy to recall.
Some people don't know clouds, at all.

A cloud looks innocent and woolly.
From the side, it fools you fully.
Underneath, a cloud's a bully,
always punching down.
Well, love can give and love can take.
A heart can mend as sure as break,
but clouds are much more like a snake.
They only rain one way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
from near and far, and still somehow,
one side is up, and one is down.
I really know which side, deserves the headline.