“Now I’ll tell you about the
Blues. All Negroes like Blues.
Why? Because they was born with
the Blues. And now everybody
have the Blues. Sometimes they
don’t know what it is.”
—Leadbelly
And I was born with you, wasn’ t I, Blues?
Wombed with you, wounded, reared and forwarded
from address to address, stamped, stomped
and returned to sender by nobody else but you,
Blue Rider, writing me off every chance you
got, you mean old grudgeful-hearted, table-
turning demon, you, you sexy soul-sucking gem.
Blue diamond in the rough, you are forever.
You can’ t be outfoxed don’ t care how they cut
and smuggle and shine you on, you’ re like a
shadow, too dumb and stubborn and necessary
to let them turn you into what you ain’ t
with color or theory or powder or paint.
That’ s how you can stay in style without sticking
and not getting stuck. You know how to sting
where I can’ t scratch, and you move from frying
pan to skillet the same way you move people
to go to wiggling their bodies, juggling their
limbs, loosening that goose, upping their voices,
opening their pores, rolling their hips and lips.
They can shake their boodies but they can’ t shake you.