Brendan Hogan
WINDOW CLEANING
[Aaron Douglas (American, 1898-1979), 1935
Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 in; Sheldon Museum of Art]
Bluesman
Bluesman
House rent is due
Lover's slipped for Santa Fe
Your upright plays a jagged tune.
There is no party
No friends, no thunderbird wine
No city dwelling
Job in the ballpark
Or steel mill
No truck driving fools.
So spur electric mayhem,
Your amplified steam
Fills the room
Beat out in time
Holding faces to the fire
Taking the shine off a dime
Bluesman
Dressed to the nines
Smelling of jasmine
Your voodoo sex horns
Animal bones and cat skins
Mix the lines.
But be careful, Ms. Brown
Beware, you sleep
In the night where the shadows
Stamp the ground
Stir the pot, make it sell.
In the corners of darkness
You hang low like fruit
But here are the living
Deep shouts and backbeat
Mojo and loot
Bluesman
What do you know?
You have no name
No record of being born
You're a preacher
A blind man, a misfit soul.
Leave the village burning
Get on down the line
Leave your houses standing
And you, rattling
In clapboards and twine
Ma and Bessie and Papa Charlie
Patton, too
The score was sold years ago
"St. Louis woman with your diamond ring
Pull yourself around by your apron strings"
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