1.
Pink hazy sunrise in a small town
& the only sound
is an old man’s harmonica:
mourning the passing of night.

 

2.
Songs perch in trees
but not like birds.
Not like songs, either.

 

3.
Listen to a song while you are in love –
if it does not make you hungry
it is not blues.

 

4.
Bodies whirl together –
flesh binds us
to this music.

 

5.
Tombstone, crossroads, midnight:
these are the inventions
of someone who knows everything
about envy, nothing about sorrow.

 

6.
The lean & shiver
of a tree in the wind,
the tearing of wood from wood.

 

7.
A month without rain,
two months, three –
dust so thick
it whines like a guitar.

 

8.
Slug of gin,
crack of pistol,
bruise of knuckle on bone.

 

9.
Forget what you can,
bring nothing inside.
At least for tonight, you have found
a place where forgiveness
means nothing – where rhythm is a state of grace.

 

10.
If a man with a guitar makes you an offer
what do you do?

 

11.
If you know how far to the state line,
if you keep an eye on the door,
if trouble tastes like corn whiskey.

 

12.
The river is moving,
the blues must be playing.

 

13.
The trains are gone,
the tracks remain,
scars stitched across a difficult land.
Believe what you want.
Listen when you can.