across the street from the bluenote

voodoo night excites you on
your way to a blues engagement and
a burning for that booming bass
in a three-piece called the “excellos”

and from the parking lot
henry shadows you with brown bag beer
and lewis carrol dialect
you can’t shake this stubborn flea

at the door of marshall’s
a $2.00 cover becomes
the wall of china
your kinship to him ends

while you tune up the strat
old henry’s eyes bop up and down
through the window
you half smile and tip your vodka to him

he tries to charm the doorman
but steroid floyd cusses him
and henry is faced
to search out another victim

you’re on your third vodka
and the boys decide there’s enough
audience to start it up
so you kick back your hair
stuff a glowing cigarette between machineheads
and call a four-count into the mike

that beat and bass line boom
as fingers find notes
on your guitar to go with lyrics like

“i work hard for my baby but she’s got just one bad quirk
every time i turn my back she’s off with another jerk
i hold these bullets tightly
for fear i’ll put them in my gun
yes, i hold these bullets so tightly
for fear they’ll end my baby’s fun...”

appeared in Postcards Con Carne

Slipstream reviews with
michael baskinski:

• Number 20. 2000
• Number 21. 2001
• Number 22. 2002

Slipstream Press announces the winner of the 15th Annual Poetry Chapbook Competition with the release of WHAT LANGUAGE by J.P. Dancing Bear. The chap is filled with rich, honest, and well-crafted poems lifted from life experience which offer the reader fresh insights and lingering images. (40 pages; $7.00 from Slipstream, Box 2071, Niagara Falls NY 14301). Visit Slipstream Press for further information and details.

ALSO: Slipstream #22 is now available from the same address for $7.00. It features the poetry, fiction, and photography by 50 writers, poets, and artists including Liza Porter, Gerald Locklin, Lyn Lifshin, Robert Cooperman, Vincent Tortora, David Hernandez, Dan Sicoli, Catfish McDaris, Donna Michele Hill, Livio Farallo, David Chorlton, Norman J. Olsen, Serena Fusek, Dory Adams, Johnny Cordova, Sarah Freligh, and Martin Vest.