there’s a decaying piano
in “the graveyard bar”
that nobody plays
whenever i feel
like i’m starting
to disappear
into the chorus
of gray-faced patrons
mumbling conspiracy claims
into their beer
i wander over
to the keyboard
& bend my ear
i hammer a low blue note
& jam the pedal
to the dusty dance floor
i close my eyes
& listen
as that solitary
son-of-a-bitch echoes
out its monotone song
& i think about
friday nights
at the “downtown lounge”
i think about
sweet showers
of sound
pouring from the bells
of a million silver saxophones
i think about
six electric strings ringing
behind a lone voice
singing
“how blue can you get”
i think about the kings
earl & albert & freddie
i think about
that old beale street blues boy
letting the good times roll
b.b.
round midnight
down in memphis tennessee
~DB Cox
DB Cox is a blues musician/writer from South Carolina. His poems and short
stories have been published extensively in the small press, in the US, and
abroad. His first collection of short stories called “Unaccustomed Mercy,”
published by Studio Books, is available at the Amazon Kindle Store.