Another Student Assignment Poem - After "Lyke Wake Dirge"
Allen's January, 1980 Naropa class. Allen begins with a spontaneous couplet
AG: "Turn in your homework this or next hour /and mark them with paradigms if it is in your power"
"And if you haven’t got it to turn it in now/ mark it up with your accents and I’ll pick it up Thursday, anyhow"
Next..what was it? –there were some paradigms, some imitations of “This ae night” (Lyke Wake Dirge). [to Student] - You got that one? want to try it?
- One round will do will do/As we drink a brew/a shot of booze one or two/ and damned to be are you/ /Sing so sweet, sing so sweet,/ as we drink a brew/Home to Mom to suck her teat/ and damned to be are you.."
AG: And damp? are what?
Student: "And damned to be are you" - [continues] - "..Tip the glass, enrich the soul/As we drink a brew/Smash smash, bang the bowls/ and damned to be are you/O, I hear them calling blue/ as we drink a brew/a shot of booze/a slimy screw/And damned to be are you/Take the knife, cut the tongue/ as we drink a brew/(cool here young, cool here young)/ but damned to be are you/So place your feet most fast/while we drink a brew/Until the time has come to pass/ that damned to be are you/One round will do, will do/ As we drink a brew/ A shot of booze one or two/ and damned to be are you"
Student: It’s fun.
AG: ..to find sometimes, when people don’t have a clear picture in mind, at least they can swing - which is nice.
[Audio for the above can be heard here, beginning at approximately forty-one-and-a-half minutes in and concluding at approximately forty-three-and-three-quarter minutes in]