LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS

How do we survive
what we come to know
and discover the obvious?

In April l993 I got in my car.
I went to the radio station
to do a show on money.
Almost nobody bothered to call.
You were still alive then

The night before
I dreamed I was the last love
of Lightnin' Hopkins
Everywhere in the room
the light was Blue
like a Picasso
Surprised I was to find him
alive and well
Surprised I was that he loved me
well and true

SO How many times a day
Do YOU Think about money?
Have you counted them?
Could you count them?

So what has value?
If I turn that dream into a best seller-
Does it have value?
If I make it into a song the Rolling Stones sing-
Does it have value?
If I make it into a movie that stars Meryl Streep-
Does it have value?

The other night I dreamed with you
Your moth pale hair
that never grew
even to your shoulders
What reverse Rapunzel were you
that your hair would not come down?

I said , "The brakes on the car are no good"
(I was still driving my ancient Valiant.)
"I almost ran over a child ".

You said only:

"You,
on the other hand,
are still alive."

But sometimes
I wear that other dream
as a locket around my neck
to keep the notch in my neck blue
and my heart warm.

 

Anna McCarthy
Poverty Pudding Spring 2000
(return to the Poet Corral)