Blog info: http://mathilde.vox.com/
(Regrettably, I haven't really blogged much at all this year, but there's about a year and some change of archive which is personal, and sometimes farsical and funny... )
This is probably the best place to post a copy of the Joe Bolton poem I mentioned earlier. Being from Nashville, this one is close to my heart.
LINES FOR HANK WILLIAMS
by JOE BOLTON
The way his high voice would break and break down,
Beautifully lonesome, lost…who once wrote
A song at gunpoint in a hotel downtown,
Fingers shaking to hold the simple chords.
The world was one long night, endless Nashvilles,
A jambalaya of women, whiskey, and pills.
At the Opry they poured coffee down his throat
Backstage before the show, and he’d cough
And rise, trying to remember his own words.
And once, driving through the dark of the night
In a Cadillac with Minnie Pearl, he broke
Into “I Saw the Light,” then broke it off,
His voice losing volume as he spoke:
“There ain’t no light, Minnie. There ain’t no light.”
He plays with the form a bit in this one, but this is the one I could find. The book I can find in print is Last Nostalgia. His work manages to repay me for every ounce of attention that I give it; I can't recommend it enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment