Black and Blues

painting by Dusty Jonakin.

Black and Blues

“I never had the blues--no, the blues

always had me.”--Brownie McGhee.

You know they say

that a black snake moans

when it hears a mess

of thumping, banging blues.

Purists, piously munching pieces

of pigeon pot pie, would argue

that a snake can only hiss--

but I would be remiss

not to strongly disagree,

for when that silver slide bar zings

along those six cat gut strings, 

I tell you 

that old black snake moans,

like a gambler shaking his bones,

like ice cream without its cones,

like a scream the bitch actually owns,

like punks without their phones,

like a blade a thug will hone--

it just coils there all alone,

bobs its head back 

and damned sure moans;

joined by a hound dog howling,

and a tomcat screeching,

and a church mouse praying,

and a harnessed horse haranguing!

Hell’s fire,

you know it’s true--

banging blues always

does that to you.

Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub