"I been in some big towns, I heard me some big talk. But there's one thing I know." VERSUS "the inarticulate speech of the heart."

"My mama done tol' me,
when I was in knee-pants
My mama done tol' me, " Son a wo/man'll sweet talk"
And give ya the big eye, but when the sweet talkin's done
A woman's a two-face,
A worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night

Now the rain's a-fallin', hear the train's a-callin, "Whooee!"
(My mama done tol' me) Hear dat lonesome whistle blowin' 'cross the trestle,
"Whooee!"(My mama done tol' me) A-whooee-ah-whooee ol' clickety-clack's a-echoin' back th' blues in the night

The evenin' breeze'll start the trees to cryin' and the moon'll hide its light when you get the blues in the night

Take my word, the mockingbird'll sing the saddest kind o' song, he knows things are wrong, and he's right

From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blow

I been in some big towns an' heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I know.

A woman's a two-face, a worrisome thing who'll leave ya to sing the blues in the night

My mama was right, there's blues in the night."

The scratch.


I woke up with a spot of blood over my eye.
A scratch halfway across my forehead.
But I'm sleeping alone these days.
Why on earth would a man raise his hand against himself,
even in sleep?
It's this and similar questions I'm trying to answer this morning.
As I study my face in the window


Raymond Carver