1.23.2014

Will's Dad, Glove Maker Recusant

William's daddy was a glover,

He'd hump the day tanning hide.


And though he couldn't read them

He bragged of his son's rimes


Will was true to faith, he'd claim

While squaring cow gut skin to wrist


He'd talk of Tyburn gallows

And note us of the naming lists:


In Stratford while the ladies pray

They mark the recusants in town,


In the shop his hanged gloves fray,

You'd think he'd touched their nightinggowns


Center town, they dragged him sweating

He cursed them all what done as him,


John was kenneled for his debts they claimed

The crows pecked his limbs? That was faith.                                                

                                                                                                     20may11

15jan14


revision focusing the imagery on John Shakespeare as alleged Catholic sympathizer. originally some wordplay mixed the JS theory with allusions to drugs and front businesses. original draft didn't mention WS or his writing past the opening line)

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