in memory of woody and huddie and pete,
and long may the jazz and blues and folk ring loud …
Tag Archive: spirituals
your eyes sketch skies,
silken sandpaper,
your touch,
the smell of your hair,
seducing me,
avalanches of curls,
kisses like tributaries fanning out, eroding the cold hard stone,
in your arms,
in shadows of your form … …
… … I am not whole,
perhaps half and half,
but never am I,
with you … … alone.
interwoven jazz … …
time to leave the obfuscation,
euphemisms,
platitudes,
time to shed the detritus of who we once were,
why we once never could be,
strewn amidst the thorns,
jabbing through the turbulent sea,
each wave,
breaking,
crashing,
threaded strings,
foamy universes within foam,
dashing the jagged cliffs,
steep,
daunting,
impregnable,
conceited,
arrogance of invincibility,
the choice of loss,
tracer bullets pockmarking the diseased sky,
splintering egos,
crushing ideals,
held aloft sacrosanct,
wringing ideology,
mere attempts,
feeble at least,
the grandiose fiction of an all en-compassing “explanation of it all”
the unscaleable wall,
where dreams collide,
headlong into concrete apartheid,
headstrong,
belief,
unreason,
faith,
trust,
honesty, love,
lie fractured,
scattered bones strewn here,
there,
and some places foreboding yet alive,
in between,
the transparency of justice,
or,
the prism of competing beliefs,
which leaves this soul, cut,
ripped apart,
torn,
at the seams,
having set sail on the river of hopes,
having soared the blue expanse,
in free flight,
a torch, always,
always, burning, shining bright,
a beacon in the desolate night,
aloft at last,
winged chariots of unfinished dreams.
there are these moments,
often permeating my pores,
the sense of you,
your smile,
your presence,
a soothing balm,
enveloping,
cocooning,
caressing,
infusing,
moments,
with you,
simple,
true,
wrapping me in a warmth of serenity,
soothing shroud,
warm,
wild,
calm,
gently swaying in the breeze,
an intoxicating tropical breeze,
nestled in your arms,
beneath the shade of a palm,
just out of view,
hazy,
shades of hope,
love,
peace,
intermingling, racing through tributaries,
invading,
veins of scarlet blood,
streaking down,
cheeks moist with tears,
seeking,
searching,
hither and thither,
as the years amble on,
as the flesh wrinkles …
leaving behind glimpses of soft,
gentle joy,
slowly,
effortlessly, inexorably,
as dreams settle,
floating between laughs,
onto the barren ground,
soon to wither.
talkin’ yakkitty-yak blah blues … …
why do these tears fall like blood,
engulfed in a torrential flood,
when will these pangs take flight,
fleeing open night,
what can we do,
to be true,
to me, and to you …
sprinkled scribbles …
sketched against skin,
softly soothing, dipped in inked nectar, infused with desires unleashed,
to live, to taste the salt of sweat on flesh, to walk in the torrential rain, drenched in perennial desire,
scorching, broiling, slowly inflamed, centuries, months, moments, decades,
the moth to the fire … … …
talkin’ dreamscapey blues ….
slipping through sieves,
time leaves,
scurrying off, slinking away,
so let me hold you close, tight,
tonight,
as dreams crash, plummeting,
spiralling gradually, slowly, agonisingly,
into freefall flight,
blinded by knowing whats right,
holding you close,
holding you tight …
been a long time walkin’
my long tongues been a-talkin’
blistering my feet
slipping and slidin’ down church street
lookin’ for a job
with decent pay
and here’s what all the signs say
ain’t no jobs round here today
so keep on a-walkin’
and a-talkin’
braggin’ and a-baggin’
yappin’ and a-waggin’
knowing there ain’t no place
that’ll bear my kinda face
cos’ i know there’ll never be
home for a-hobblin’ one like me …
Scribbled Verse 