Saturday, May 5, 2012

Jukebelly



painting by justin bua


Jukebelly 


Blues man, blues man,
I can see you now,
midnight in the juke womb,
kerosene lights blazing
like your eyes through the smoke
close by the river
all the way out of town,
you getting the youngsters on their feet
twirling, spinning, hugging, shaking and smiling,
as you sit there strong in your spot,
strumming that old acoustic six-string,
smacking it on its bare butt,
lifting your bulk off the stool
with each vigorous slam;
the slide jumping around the frets
like a mad and ravenous metal insect,
eager to bend those chords, to blend them whole,
making that guitar wail, throb, and shiver,
making passionate love to it
like it was a pretty woman,
first gentle—then hard—
for those precious hours you serenade us 
with your deep delta delicious raspy voice,
punctuated poignant with kissing your shiny harp,
letting your busy tongue coax
the sweet sadness out of it—damn,
we are neither black nor white, no, no,
we’re just folks, part of the people
sharing one huge smile as we thump our feet,
pound our legs,
getting married to the rhythm you thrust out
into the hot smoky night.


Glenn Buttkus 


March 2009



Posted over on dVerse Poets-Poetics


Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love the picture and your poem perfect and did it justice.
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Frank Watson said...

Good poem--love the images, "midnight in the juke womb," "smacking it on its bare butt," and the ending too had great tension.

Brian Miller said...

ok help a brother out here...the difference between this and the first?

Lisa said...

Blues all over, the words match the image.

Anonymous said...

Love it, Robert Johnson burning up the rhythm

Glenn Buttkus said...

Brian, this one has the taped recitation, the other did not; had trouble with the mp3 software again.

Laurie Kolp said...

I felt as if I were there listening to the blues with you, Glenn!

Unknown said...

You really capture the rawness of the music and the musician, not to mention the commnal spirit unleashed by the sound. This is rapturous and lovely and to the bone as it evokes those ecstatic moments where we blend with the music and become one with a greater reality, sensuous, alive, present in the heated moment.