In this song, Common Good collaborator Devin Bustin follows Howard Thurman’s direction, centers down, and sees a series of jarring images. You can hear the stripped-down demo using the SoundCloud Player below.
“Call a Quiet Friend”
By Devin Bustin
There are shouldered picket signs
There are settled picket fences
There’s a steeple with a painting of a window
The evangelist museum
Is praising Billy Graham and Billy Sunday
There’s a tiger without teeth
There’s an alabaster Jesus
There’s a grandmother who’s going to live forever
There’s a blue line on a flag
On a cross on a sticker on a bumper
I’ll call a quiet friend
And sit until they hear me listen
There’s a picture of my father
At the age his father was
When he was at the age his father was
In a clipping from the news
Feeding compost
Though the paper’s out of print
A midwestern middle manager
In the middle of her life
In the middle of a song that needs a bridge
And a well-dressed pamphleteer
Getting recalls on the poison
He’s been peddling
I’ll call a quiet friend
And sit until they hear me listen