Woodcutters from Fiery Ships - Thought Gang, Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch

The ants were walking fast

And they disappeared finally into some tall grass

Pete couldn’t see where they went

Or what they were after

It was a gray muggy day with some rain

A light wind was blowing

Pete saw the girl next door take off her clothes last night

And walk through her house nude

She went into a back room

And Pete waited for her to come out

But she never did

Pete saw two children of the earth

Come out of the ground after that

A cat killed one of them and played with the other

Until one of its legs came off

The moon was half full

Someone was in Pete’s yard last night

Pete heard the person walk past his window

And into the bushes, then out of the yard again

Pete couldn’t see them because the lights were on in his house

At the diner, he heard a man say

That the doctors had cut him down his neck and into his chest

They lifted his flesh away

And climbed his ribs

And scraped his arteries

A grey man with big ears lit a big cigar

Smoke drifted over Pete’s apple pie

The men at the other table were very pale

And were drinking Bloody Marys

Nothing is moving in Pete’s backyard

He hears distant traffic

And the electric clock is grinding gears near him

Several woodcutters from fiery ships

Are coming in his door

They are dressed in wool

And are opening his drawers

And his refrigerator

One of them runs his hand up and down Pete’s walls

Stopping now and then and laughing

They have discovered Pete

And have him by the arms

And Pete’s going with them

Out under the orange tree

They keep hitting Pete’s knees

With their smoking pipes

The sun is coming out

And a bird hops in the bushes

The woodcutters are digging a hole

Pete is upset about things

His brain is sorting out information

Gleaned from this confusing life

Things aren’t making sense

For instance, why is that boy bleeding from the mouth?

Everything is moving

Except where it is perfectly still

Pete’s curtains open and close

Smoke fills his room

Blood shoots from the cracks

The appliances roar

Wind blows things

Hurricanes through his lungs

And the roots come out

Woodcutters are everywhere now

Moving quickly, loading Pete into their craft

The dogs howl in the night

And blood rains fill the streets

Babies float in it

Stars shoot it first

And blue lightning greets a rotted gutter pinned

Swirls of flying ants are in Pete’s room now

Taking his shoes across the room

As a fiery ship roars

From the fiery ship, Pete sees the girl now as she falls

The first bump, then the second

Maintenance men employed by the city cleaned her kitchen

But it took two days

Pete and the woodcutters were five friggin' miles away by then

P. S., Pete learned to enjoy the woodcutters

And their particular brand of humor