Conceived as a Spoken Word Performance piece.
Hey blue
there is a song
stabbin’ at my soul
like ink on a tattoo pin
but your heart’s
gone
dusted sapphire
drippin’ tears
caught up
in d’moon drift
like the grey-blu future I see
when I look into the night sky
like a soakin’ wet fever
in my brain
it shows me nothin’
nothin’ but a shade
like drivin’ at night
speedin’ blurred
doing 190
‘round the corners
streetlights streakin’
like a devil
in a tight blue dress
a little guy
livin’ in a blue world
some blues
are just blues
some are jack shit
nothin’ I count
to fall asleep
like the money
the money is nothin’
but I’m hooked
on that touch of zen
know it’s rude
but it’s thick
in my pocket
hear me when I say
the whiskey blues is back
wish you knew it
wish you felt its hammer
but you ain’t no count
look what you put me through
ridin’ the jellyroll line
silver’d fever
‘n a scum-brown bowl
chasin’ that pocket-thick
blue madness
you was my mountain top
thought you was the peak
thought you was everything
the sinew of my salvation
but you — just fragments
pieces of dreams
pieces of bad dreams
nightmare sorrows
riffs off key
in a blu dark night
born to a hard mornin’
noddin’ d’dawn
now
I think of you
no more
*
rob kistner © 2021
Poetry at: dVerse
The voice is fantastic, really enjoy the way the thoughts come, like sudden realisations. Really good read.
Thank you Ain! This is my interpretation of random unscripted fragmenting.
Wow – pretty intense writing. It’s sad and it’s blue fits my mood these days. Pieces of a dream, lost …sigh…
Sorry to hear you’re down True. Hope the Christmas season can lift you my friend.
Nice one. I enjoyed the references ????
Thank you Paula.
I think the blues are such a good fit for the fragment poem – the way modern blues especially jumps across the upper reaches of the chords
I love the paradoxical ending, like Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel”.
Some striking blues lines that I can hear playing:
“like a soaking wet fever
in my brain
it shows me nothin’
nothin’ but a shade”
Thank you Laura. This was most enjoyable. I found 12 random sad songs, mostly blues, picked in a lottery fashion. I then started grabbing lines in a Russian roulette fashion. I tweaked them minimally, mostly to maintain flow and prevent total disjointment. This is what bubbled to the surface. I did this several times before this particular piece emerged. It spoke to me darkly, I liked it, so I posted it. It was a very cool experience! 🙂
Nice.Nice.Nice. Particularly ‘a heart dusted sapphire’.
Thank you Misky… :
Powerful stuff Rob. I love “born to a hard morning”.
Thank you Kim…! 🙂
For not thinking of her anymore, he has compiled evidence to the contrary. Great idea for a fragment poem, Rob. The blues are perfect to give us a voice for such sorrow.
Thank you Lisa! Yes, the blues allows you say how you feel, closer to the heart and bone of it.
Wowww!! This is gorgeously rendered, Rob! 🙂 I especially love and resonate with;
“look what you put me through
ridin’ the jellyroll line
silver’d fever
‘n a scum-brown bowl
chasin’ that pocket-thick
blue madness.”
Thank you Sanaa, I appreciate your kind words…! 🙂
I like the way the words are reflected in your collage.
Thanks Kerfe, I felt they were well aligned.
Sounds so much lyrics to a blues song! Fragments of emotion! I love your choice of music as well!
Thank you Dana! 🙂
Absolutely excellent! I could hear the guitar in my mind accompanying the words.
Thank you Ornery! I appreciate the kind words… 🙂
I love the way this flows, it just pulls you along with it.
Thank you Kate… 🙂
The blues are a sweeping of the fragments, celebrating them even if they’re shards. You did your work here.
Thank you Brendan!
Like the vibe of this poem…
riffs off key
in a blu dark night… that resonated with me a lot…
Thank you Rajani!
Perfectly blue, and could be a song, I think.
Thank you Sherry. It was culled from fragments of 12 blues songs, and seasoned with a bit’o my own blues.
The blue and blues penetrating through the poem is really good.
Thznk you Bjorn… 🙂
This is quite brilliant!! Your explanation of the process as fascinating as the final work. Bravo!
Thank you Helen… 🙂