[vague, sorta spoiler warning for True Detective]
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In the old burned church
there was a flock of birds
and a yellow fear
And a picture of
A girl kneeling dead on the wall
And there was an antler crown and black stars falling down
And two little bird traps and a pair of murder raps
And a little meth house and a cheating spouse
And a gun and a crime and the grit and the grime
And a quiet dead girl in the flat circle of time
Goodnight Rust
Goodnight dust
Goodnight racist thugs on angel dust
Goodnight Lang and the Yellow King
Goodnight traps and murder raps
Goodnight search, goodnight church
Goodnight drugs and goodnight thugs
Goodnight yellow hue, Goodnight LaDoux
Goodnight Dewall, goodnight dance hall
Goodnight Cohle and goodnight dread
Goodnight nobody, goodnight dead
And goodnight to those that are found in the shed
Goodnight black stars, goodnight nobody knows-ya
Goodnight from the voices of lost dim Carcosa
Lindsey Bonner says:
Finished reading “Goodnight Moon” to our son mere moments ago. Man that sticks in the brain.
February 19, 2014 — 10:23 PM
paigevest says:
I’m loving this show. I binge-watched the first 5 episodes and I can’t wait for the next 3. But none of my friends are watching so I have nobody to talk to about it… glad to see that you’re tuning in!
February 19, 2014 — 10:25 PM
Katy Mann says:
Wow. I love that show. I watched the first episode on a Sunday afternoon about two hours before the second, and I’ve been hooked on it since! Love your “Goodnight Moon” rendition…
February 19, 2014 — 10:28 PM
Heidi Anne Ward says:
Loving also. Your poem, stellar. Ep. 5 rewatch in progress. Man, it’s a good time to be weird.
February 19, 2014 — 10:54 PM
Tina Goodman says:
Goodnight to ya!
February 19, 2014 — 11:39 PM
RSAGARCIA says:
Been watching it since it started. It’s sort of like Hannibal with the prose of Deadwood. I’m not sure if you can love a show this intense, but damn, you can’t look away.
February 20, 2014 — 10:00 AM
jenphalian says:
Nice, very nice, perfect for the young’uns. Can never start the dread descent into literacy too young, that’s what I say.
February 20, 2014 — 10:03 AM
Cat York says:
We’ve watched every episode twice. I don’t remember ever doing that for a TV show ever. Also, I’m not the starstruck type, but I think I’m dying over McConaughey these days.
This poem is brilliant. You need really creepy illustrations for it. Like McKean creepy. Or Arrasmith.
February 20, 2014 — 10:15 AM
Cherith says:
This is great! A perfect goodnight poem for what is shaping up to be a great show.
February 20, 2014 — 10:23 AM
Tee Morris says:
I’m convinced, after last night’s talk on Serving Worlds (http://johnmierau.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/anthology-editors-roundtable/), that all roads lead to TRUE DETECTIVE…
…and at the end of that road there is a lonely house with a solitary tree in the backyard, storm clouds seeming to always loom over the horizon, threatening a storm that—for all its efforts—cannot wash the sin away…
February 20, 2014 — 11:22 AM
Nikki Blakely says:
Don’t know the show, but I quite enjoyed the poem! And there are not many poems I enjoy – so that’s saying something.
February 20, 2014 — 1:41 PM
Gary B. Phillips says:
If someone were to illustrate this in the vein of the Goodnight Moon artwork, that would just be the best thing ever.
February 20, 2014 — 3:12 PM
Howard Phillips says:
I’m still enjoying True Detective, but it has lost some of it’s shine over the past couple weeks. The entire southern cosmic dread thing is wearing thin. It was great when it was just flavoring, but now they’re pushing it down the audience’s throat. I couldn’t help rolling my eyes after the fat meth cook told Rust “There’s a shadow in you, boy.”
I still want to love the show, but I also want to see it return to the brilliance it showed in the first couple episodes. I don’t think it will. Most likely, this show will resort to even more trite plot developments that they’ll try to disguise under their Lovecraftian umbrella. This’ll most likely be enough to satisfy an indiscriminating audience unfamiliar with the genre, which is fine, but also sad when you look back at how the show started and at its wasted potential.
February 20, 2014 — 3:17 PM
Val says:
Nice! This was a joy to read at three o’clock this morning. (And such a good show.)
February 20, 2014 — 5:22 PM
whitedragon014 says:
hwy do i get the feeling…
February 20, 2014 — 9:36 PM
Kat Kennedy says:
Great interpretation of the show in verse. This, along with Justified, is one of my favs.
February 21, 2014 — 11:10 AM