"Memphis Beat..." Poem

Remembered and brought to life during a second of "Poetic Beauty's" thoughts

"Memphis Beat..."

I've been in Bars and watched and listened
to life passing by... both sides of the counter...
what is and wasn't and so many wanna bees' never-were's.

Life tastes more sharply
when you stand on the blisters
of all the pavements you've wandered.

R & B isn't blue - its red and rare,
raw as hell... charged with clues
only bought by life and its passing
and grasping and wish-full-wanting...
dirt-gound-life-bound-heart-twisted
and chewn, spit out deep-far-and-hard
at a moon that cares less than the damn eyes
damned eyes - crying so hard a breath away...

...and the packs of the wanderers
flowing and floating... I's and pairs-of-more-just-I's 
and some-even-paired, thronged and desperate triplets
tripping-yet-despaired in pair-less gatherings...
quart-lets, stare-lets, bare-lets, lost-lets
moving and swaying to a WANTING heat.

All them glasses sweating - leaking tears to bartops
tabletops echoing sympathetic wheres...
bar-rags wiping lives and the living away and away
shot-by-shot taken, heads and existence sinking
farther and further and ever beyond mere -
fingertips reaching - reaching shaking...
to empty dim-lit darknesses - racked and wracked
as laugher - so false even god joins in.
We/they/I share, sit - hoping with caught breaths
wanting in cacaphony-phonic silence as frozen moments
swirl, dip,and sway - and finding nothings -
no ones - chances slipping by-and-by-and-by

and its never your heart
wanted - just wanting and its only... silence inside
silence and waiting and watching -
life... another eternity... passing by.

And the beat-beat-beat
beat
Beat
BEAT
lives on...

Chris

 

Author's Note

..."strumming my pain with his fingers, singing my life with his words... killing me softly..." a helluva song that

Say as you like

Reviews

[olla]

the blues.. red.. rare.. and raw as hell.. and anyone who has lived long enough has felt their pain strummed with bleeding finger tips.. maybe it is as Holly Go Lightly said.. we should call it the reds..

[anne p. murray- LadeeAn..]

Chris you have such a unique style of writing. It's so individuallly YOU. This is a good read taking one on journey down to Memphis and the music scene.

"R & B isn't blue - its red and rare,
raw as hell... charged with clues"

That is a "right on" verse! The dicohotomy of the 4 and 2 beat measures, the Rhythm, plus the soulful lyrics and melodies, the Blues, most certainly make R & B raw as hell and charged with clues, cuz' you can't have the rhythm without the blues

[Phibby Venable]

if you have any aura at all, the bar room is a battle ground of emotions, and the vibrations painful even in the smiling faces. this poem captures the scene perfectly and the hope and fragility of humanity. The beat is all that saves us.

[Kerry O'Connor]

Written with the echoes of the Beats resounding... it reads like the poignant cry of a lost generation:

only bought by life and its passing
and grasping and wish-full-wanting...
dirt-gound-life-bound-heart-twisted
and chewn, spit out deep-far-and-hard
at a moon that cares less than the damn eyes
damned eyes - crying so hard a breath away...

It is the poet's task to show it like it is, and you have.

[sharonlee]

That is a helluva song my old friend.... both....
Shar

[emmajoy]

I danced to your words, sitting down feeling the beat of your phrases and the swing of your stanzas. Not meaning to be clever but really felt how you felt as you wrote this .. there's a ticking back of the clock to places and faces, moments and emotions in this, all created by you .. and, you shared amazingly. Third stanza magic, for which i thank you.

[Emily B]

loving this . . . on a sultry summer nght

[Robin]

I played many a club/bar , and I always wondered who was the show ... we had the lights but they had the stage - and one hell of a script ...

[Larry Dyson]

love this one..."Life tastes more sharply
when you stand on the blisters
of all the pavements you've wandered."

[Larry Dyson]

yes roberta flak ....all her work.. and ReRe...bright bright sunshiny day