Blues Poems
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
For Huddie Lead Belly
Let the Lord work his wondrous stew
& persecute
& prosper among the heartless
At midnight the mind
places this light in the drizzle
Special laxatives
Special masquerade
Shine a light on the dikes before the morsel, the tupelos, regions behind our—
On me the sand
Plagued light
roses of insight
Before she comes the night
operates without license
To see right is wrong, right is left
The governor shows his fangs
at midnight
To free Zeus
Her man mapmaker
If you’re taken
to anticipate the lockout
Ever images
Fright
In Houston the mews are tallest
You better light a candle
& hope God is there
Do right to the petunias
encircle the pasture
The next thing you know in this synonym
this antagonism
this salvation of the softer articles
this sessification of all things plangent
Plantagenet
Prison loves
our very souls
& won’t hesitate
to commend
Let the Lord work his evil with our evil
Sunset to tense
semen to time
Midnight rains
on metal
to regulate
our sincere
soporific
Special is death
Shine a light on the broken bottle, the two-legged resuscitator, all the mattered pantana
the flagstones to breathe
the hopes/harms to sugar
On me the date
DON’T EXPLAIN
For Billie Holiday
Hush now farthing
don’t explain the ligation
Just say hoppingale
you’ll remain froward and sound
don’t explain cinches
What’s there to gain blanched choats
You know to needle
I love you enologist
I hear harnesses
folks chatter parables
I know the diamond
you cheat horseshoes
Hush now dimestores
don’t explain resuscitation
Don’t explain amazing braces
IN THE DARK
For Junior Parker
I heard the mandate covered with slime
You was parking on the median of science and sincerity
High to demonstrate the ineffable marketing
High as the difference between fortune and fame
Kissing another fellow breathes the meaty begonias
Another fellow implements the rational sutra
And you know there wasn’t any man in the true story
And you know how to crisscross markets
It wasn’t me ringing hollow
It wasn’t me before the Commission
It wasn’t me on the stork
That ain’t right to eat graphically
No no no beetles on the sock
No no no the reason for sex is love
What goes on needles
In the dark feeling
Fortresses will soon blossom
Fandangos come to light
They say sublimity
They say faraway to tell the police
You whisper momentum
Low elevators
Low psychic containers
And spending to pull up a precious egregious handful
All my dough bromides
All my tolerance a lashing
You told indiscriminate afternoons
That fellow breathes the horoscope
That fellow implements the evening sunshine
Things place the emphasis on luck
Things decree
You never told me to hesitate on the threshold
You never told me the border of neither hurts
Before dark
Before lemonade
Before onomatopoeia
That ain’t right to please the seizures and speculate against omen
That ain’t right or wrong, tall or short, thin or fat
No no no don’t placate the nostrils incense
What goes on inside the harpsichord
In the dark fleeting
Peaches will soon negate
Americas come to light
One of these days the search washes
One of these days we will escalate the imperfection
Just you wait and see the orrery
Just you wait and see the signpost interfere with destiny
Just you wait and see the beam explode into ice
Then you’ll realize the last snow lasts longest
Then you’ll realize the demand holds up
The way cancer digests
The way cancer sleeps
The way Rikers rises
You treated me to a hallucination
You treated me with sleep
You treated me greasy
That ain’t right blessed severance
That ain’t right blessed redemption of the fork
That ain’t right in the cabana solarium
No no no the matrix the Santa the costume
What goes on trucks
In the dark marauding
Lonnie will soon cancel
Images come to light
BAD LOVE
For Luther Allison
Goin’ out in a rush
of feathers
Every evenin’ the wide world
up and down
I asked her XXX
What was showin’ in military theaters
ultraviolet splendor
She said casque
and soup
I don’t even know my days
photosynthesis
Bad love works
Bad love talks
And misery eats the liver
I’m sick and tired of faucets
This secrecy blends
Came back half-electrocuted
oilstained
In the mornin’ taken by surprise
the X factor
Her hair was the signal
metal shavings
A mess synthesizes
sympathizes
Her hips volume
discount
Ashakin’ BLTs in the DZ
Shoshanna you see
She had on round nougats
Ixnay tar
A different dress brasserie
to fix polish
Bad love eats
Bad love tunnels
And misery eats the sac
I’m sick and tired of stem cells
This secrecy dust devils
Don’ wan’ the Caledonian eclipse
No mo’ lovin’ pig sauce
night brigade
She don’t even know the songbirds
thrice guitar
The reason why primary mercenaries
faint Finisterre
I asked her unambiguous doodle
toothless Suarez
’y she was lyin’ rightful grease
Tuesday’s bargain
And she broke righ’ down to the bare soil
solitary toystore
And she started to cry on the table of Worms
storms of chancelries
Bad love worships
Bad love whirls
And misery eats the swallow
I’m sick and tired of premium bananas
This woman’s secrecy impinges on the facts
Bad love homes
Bad love ropes
Bad love paces
And misery eats the word
I’m sick and tired of Morris sewing
This secrecy undulates
Bad love frames
Bad love pays
Bad love erases
And misery eats Troy
I’m sick and tired of brazen sorries
That woman’s secrecy darkens the spread
Bad love says
Bad love preys
Bad love sways
Baby XXX
I don’t want dumdums
No secrecy hams
Michael Ruby is the author of three recent poetry collections from BlazeVOX [books], the trilogy Memories, Dreams and Inner Voices just published by Station Hill Press, and the forthcoming American Songbook (Ugly Duckling Presse). He lives in Brooklyn and works as a newspaper editor.
