WIDJIWAT LULLABY- "If Only Rocks Were Edible"

I have to give partial credit for the creation of this lullaby to Teddy Kennedy. During our first winter in Idyllwild I wrote "If Only Rocks Were Edible" as a poem, but were it not for the Senior Senator from Massachusetts the poem would never have morphed into a song. Let me explain. I have never cared for Sen. Kennedy's politics, but I have always very much admired his abilities as a speaker. He speaks with a crackling electricity and the words just seem to drop like hammers as voices them. I always stop if I'm skipping through the channels and I see that Senator Kennedy is speaking. The man has a gift. He could be reading the ingredients on a shampoo bottle and I would be hypnotized by the vigor and staccato.

...but I digress. One Friday during that first winter I was walking through the snowy camp turning on floodlights and boilers ahead of a guest group's arrival, and as I walked I was reciting my newest poem, If Only Rocks Were Edible, in my best Teddy Kennedy voice. I spoke with great passion and even pounded a railing as though it were a lectern on the floor of the Senate, but somehow as I recited the poem it magically morphed into a song with a little tune and everything. That would never have happened if I hadn't just watched Teddy Kennedy's appearance on MSNBC which showed clips of him railing against one thing or another...blah blah blah...but nobody can blah blah blah quite like Teddy Kennedy.




IF ONLY ROCKS WERE EDIBLE

If only rocks were edible
I wish that it were so
Instead of to the market
To the quarry I would go

I'd boil up some granite
And nibble on some slate
Pickled Quartz and Limestone steaks
I'd heap upon my plate

Bowls of pebbles and chips of shale
Laid out like finger food
I think I would like marble best
If it were chopped and stewed

The one concern I'd have
Is what would happen when
The rocks which I had eaten
Come out the other end

Metamorphic,
Igneous and Sedimentary
Mix 'em in a pot
You'd have a rocky recipe

Wanting something sweet?
Then there's something you should try.
Nothing hits the spot
Like a piece of gravel pie.

With zero fat in every snack
They're good for your waist
Even so, I must confess
They're an acquired taste

I urge you all to disregard
My Mother's belief
That eating lots of rocks
Could be harmful to your teeth.

I should add that as I was telling Sarah about my plan for the above video I told her that I wanted to wash a rock off in the sink before adding it to the stew, but I wasn't going to do that because the sink was full of dirty dishes. Sarah said, "Do the dishes." So I did, but then I forgot to do that. This is kind of fun, like "Behind the Music," on MTV.