Tahquamenon Falls Lyrics

Sufjan Stevens on "Tahquamenon Falls" : We went with Cassie to pick pine cones at the falls. She gave us each a paper bag and cotton gloves. These were the small cones, little burnt rose bud cones, from Hemlock. We weren’t allowed to pick them off the tree. This would be stealing, Cassie said. We were to pick them off the ground, and only the ones that were symmetrical, round, soft to the touch. Look for blemishes and knots and deformities, Cassie said. There were thousands around us in certain places, clustered around each other like friends at school. I remember thinking this because I had no friends at school. I wasn’t teased. I wasn’t disliked. But there was something about me that kept people at arm’s length. Sometimes girls flirted, or left notes in my gym bag, but the boys went down to the IGA at lunch without inviting me. They planned sleep-overs and fishing trips and weekends snowmobiling at the tree farm, but I only heard about these things after the fact. Behind us, we could hear the falls mumbling something, moving over rocks and moss and silt. Cassie told us that these trees produce cones only once every few years. This was a special occasion, she said, and she sprayed bug spray on our necks and on our arms. Cassie’s husband set up the tripod and took pictures, only of natural things —stones, sky, trees, mushrooms, mold — never of people. Finally, Cassie had us line up on a log and pose, one after the other, and he took our picture too. When our bags were full, we walked to a clearing by the water and Cassie put down a sheet on the grass and made our lunches: pastrami with mustard, lettuce, Swiss cheese, pumpernickel bread, and potato chips. There were so many bags of potato chips. She had two liters of Faygo pop and plastic cups. We ate fast. We were always hungry then. But Cassie knew how to enjoy her food. She would take off her sandals and roll up her sleeves to get a little sun on her shoulders. She would close her eyes when she chewed, as if she was thinking about something important. She wore wicker hats, and reflective sunglasses and denim shorts. For a few years, she was like a mother to me.