Excerpt from 'Jelly Roll'
A Blues
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Chapter One
Excerpts"Chorale" Quite difficult, belief. Quite terrible, faith that the night, again, will nominate you a running mate- that we are of the elect & have not yet found out. That the tide still might toss us up another-what eyes & stars, what teeth! such arms, alive- someone we will, all night, keep. Not just these spiders that skitter & cobweb, share my shivering bed. ------------ "Ditty" You, rare as Georgia snow. Falling hard. quick. Candle shadow. The cold spell that catches us by surprise. The too-early blooms, tricked, gardenias blown about, circling wind. Green figs. Nothing stays. I want to watch you walk the hall to the cold tile bathroom-all night, a lifetime. ----------- "Harvest Song" Lover you leave me autumn, tilling, a man tending his yard, or one not even his own. Outskirts of town a farmer one-armed, walks his fields into fire-my neighbor on his knees with a razor trims his lawn. Next door I am in the pines- grass thirsting, and up to here in weeds- poison,neglect, I have tried to forget- nothing works. Let the birds rabbits termites have the run of the place, the worms, I will take them in ------------ "Elegy, Niagara Falls" for Bert King, d. 1996 Here snow starts but does not stick-stay- is not enough to cover the bare thaw- ed ground. Grief is the god that gets us- good-in the end- Here-churches let out early-in time to catch the lunch special-at my local hotel. Sunday- even the bus boy has your face. And still having heard some days later you were dead- I haven't caught sight-day
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Jelly Roll