Time’s short for me
feelin’ like a void’s comin’
like the blue-black I see
when I stare into the night sky
void’s comin’
like a soakin’ wet fever
in my brain
it shows me nothin’
nothin’ but a shade
fadin’ t’black
images of memories racin’ past
like drivin’ at night
speedin’ blurred
doing 190
‘round the corners
streetlights streakin’
jus’a little man
insignificant
all’s I am
ev’a wuz
bangin’ word ‘gainst word
hammerin’ verse
searchin’ for truth
ma’ spirit’s depleted
been poorly treated
sure as hell been cheated
try’n a’get paid
get laid
livin’
in a blue angry world
now seein’ it slippin’ away
some blues
are just blues
n’some are death blues
and listen here
I got’em bad
hear me when I say
the whiskey’d
death blues is comin’
through that open door
I see’m
hear’m
feel’m rattle
poundin’
like an iron sledge
crushin’ my bones
spikin’ m’soul t’darkness
FUCK YOU LIFE!
look what you put me through
ridin’ the jellyroll line
that silver’d fever
‘n a scum-brown bowl
chasin’ that pocket-thick
golden madness
look wacha ‘ad me doin’
look wacha ‘ad me thinkin’
but I’m near gone
out ‘da damned door
your grip is slipped
I’m near loosed
ya’ hear — life
now ya’ just fragments
pieces of dreams
pieces of bad dreams
nightmare sorrows
riffs off key
in a blue dark night
I was born to a hard mornin’
but now
noddin’ g’bye in d’twilight
ready to shatter
into a million pieces of light
shot through the universe
stardust
returning to pure energy
eternal
all that time here
all those bewildering moments
all that frantic crazy-ass chaos
all that wonderful madness
over
done
gone
I’m light’ning flyin’
no more tryin’
no more lyin’
no more cryin’
all those moments
will be lost in time
like tears in rain
washed away
and I’m free
I shed this temporal husk
now life…
I will think on you
no more
*
rob kistner © 2022
More poetry at: dVerse
Billie delivers this following song with near perfection of tone and emotion.
It hits me especially hard — I was right there once in my youth.