Vox Populi
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Sharon Fagan McDermott: I Dream of Kevin Bacon Playing Guitar to his Goats
and the grey goat with a spiky beard
head butts him and Kevin laughs,
forms a D-chord, struts and strums.
The brown goat pushes his fingers off the frets
and Kevin laughs and scritches the top
of her head and forms a Bm-chord and waves
at the largesse of animals and farmland,
fields and late wildflowers surrounding him.
And I stand there in the dream
looking at haybales and baby goats
kicking up their hooves
and at the one large pig snuffling
at something lost on the barn floor
and Kevin’s smiling at me and says,
Sing with me, sing loud–with your whole heart!
and I ask him “why you, Kevin Bacon, why
are you in my dream? I’ve not even
watched Footloose all the way through.”
And he shrugs and tosses me another grin
and a beautiful caramel mare materializes outside
the barn door, sticks her long face around
the door, shakes her mane,
and we are all together there on this autumn
apple-falling-from-the-trees kind of day,
bees spiraling into sweetness and the sky’s
fierce blue. And the pig suddenly squeals
as he unearths a corn cob and Kevin Bacon
lets loose some footwork in the tossed straw,
struts a little closer to me, eyes lit up
and so I open my mouth
and sing for the mare and the pig and
the prancing goats, for Kevin, for me,
for the sprawl of land, gold under autumn
light and the bees in the last clover
and the apples’ thuds. I sing and sing–
and I swear to you–
every note sounds
a lot like laughter.
~~~~
Sharon Fagan McDermott’s recent books include a collection of poems Life Without Furniture (Jacar, 2018) and Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life co-authored with M.C. Benner Dixon (University of Michigan 2023).
Poem copyright 2024 Sharon Fagan McDermott
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@ch99videos. Thank you so much for your kind words, Carla! As you could see, I’m totally in agreement with you about how “completely absorbing” Bacon’s videos are on Instagram!
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What a joyful poem!
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In this time of fear and uncertainty and violence, it is so wonderful to take a moment and feel joy!
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Thanks so much, Lisa! I really appreciate that comment–and I think we’re all in need of a little joy right now, aren’t we?
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Just gorgeous. I could smell the grass – and some other stuff too :). I grew up in the country, read this poem as just for me. And Kevin, of course. “And the pig suddenly squeals / as he unearths a corn cob and Kevin Bacon / lets loose some footwork in the tossed straw, / struts a little closer to me, eyes lit up”
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Hahaha
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Thanks so much boehmrosemary! What kind remarks! And I’m so glad you felt the poem as written “just for you.” That makes my day!
Sharon
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This is a gift of a muscular reverie.
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I so appreciate your support, Arlene! It means a lot to me. Plus, what’s not to love about the phrase “muscular reverie”?
Sharon
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Needed this. Thinking of all the Sandra Boynton productions I shared with my grandkids. Thank you for a happy moment.
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So glad it could give you a little uplift today, Barbara! (I love Sandra Boynton’s work!)
Sharon
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This fabulous barnyard poem took me on a wild journey. It’s a hopeful dream, much more so than Orwell’s Animal Farm, where at the end the pigs rule as tyrants, and the other animals can only dream of makin’ bacon. Here, there’s unmatched glee in oh so many ways, as McDermott’s dream transcends Orwell’s fear, with a Bacon of joy and revelry and wild abandon. An imagery cornucopia.
However, the word rousing me a half hour after reading this harvest- time fable, is the thud (of an apple). It keeps tugging at my mind, like a noise outside, cutting in to the dreamtime dance. It reminded me of the faux Medieval banquet I attended back in the Footloose movie days (1984). The suckling pig was brought in to the roar of us Lords and Ladies, an apple baked in its mouth.
The beauty of the poem’s bountiful imagery frees us in reading it, from the fears of our troubled times; frees us in reading it from the thud of danger outside. We should dance through Indiana once again, serenading the goats, not waking to the political thuds and duds.
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Thanks for this generous serenade, Jim.
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I am humbled and delighted by this wonderful response, Jim! I especially love the contrast with Animal Farm and your dynamic phrases “with a Bacon of joy and revelry and wild abandon. An imagery cornucopia.” This just made my day. Thanks so much!
Sharon
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It was a pleasure to read and re-read your poem. In the end I had to listen to the Footloose song too. Best wishes for your next poem.
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Kevin Bacon’s Instagram is completely absorbing. Totally understand him showing up in the dream. Mine too. And in poems. Love this. Such beautiful writing Sharon. (Carla)
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I agree! I love this poem!
M
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