On the prairie by the mountains, o'er the laketraversing-waters,
came the city-fed explorers to the land Bemidjigamaag
Feeding into Mississippi, where the river stream does narrow,
Toting thirteen sacks of poems, To propitiate the locals
Trading wisdom for their laughter In the cromulent hereafter
By the lumberjack Paul Bunyan, By the garrison of Keillor
where the fishermen were curling And the radios were axing
Everyone to hold applause At the reading by the railyard,
Where the holiday of Ishtar Was but two days awaiting,
and the rabbits there were mounting On the lawns and in the fountains
Pagan pleasures were abounding While the murdered Christ was healing
In the darkness of the tomb.