BLUES FOR THE LADIES by JOHN BARBATO
Blues for the Ladies
A Jagged piece of broken
glass hung in the sky and
someone had cut the sunset’s
throat the night the blues
singer died.
We sat and cried and the
moon hung in the sky
like a dead purple rose
the night that Billie
stopped chipping.
A brass band did a
drag step dirge
through a slackjawed herd
and blue angels watched
with burning eyes the night
we carried sweet Esther home.
And Janis dropped like a
golden note and jammed
her blues into our hearts,
our souls the night her
needle got stuck.
And a jagged piece of broken
glass hung in the sky because
someone had cut the sunset’s
throat the night the blues
singer died.
John Barbato