Poems of The Week

[jazzy_dave]

The Wand Coleman CD arrived - dead cheap on Amazon for just over two quid plus postage. A Wire Winner from 1991!



Poetry and jazz poetry at its best.

American Sonnet

by Wanda Coleman



boooooooo. spooky ripplings of icy waves. this
umpteenth time she returns--this invisible woman
long on haunting short on ectoplasm

"you're a good man, sistuh," a lover sighed solongago.
"keep your oil slick and your motor running."

wretched stained mirrors within mirrors of
fractured webbings like nests of manic spiders
reflect her ruined mien (rue wiggles remorse
squiggles woe jiggles bestride her). oozy Manes spill
out yonder spooling in night's lofty hour exudes
her gloom and spew in rankling odor of heady dour

as she strives to retrieve flesh to cloak her bones
again to thrive to keep her poisoned id alive

usta be young usta be gifted--still black

The Saturday Afternoon Blues

Poem by Wanda Coleman

Can kill you
can fade your life away
friends are all out shopping
ain't nobody home
suicide hotline is busy
and here i am on my own
with a pill and a bottle for company
and heart full of been done wrong
i'm a candidate for the coroner, a lyric for a song

saturday afternoons are killers
when the air is brisk and warm
ol' sun he steady whispers
soon the life you know will be done
suicide line i can't get you
best friend out of town
alone with a pill and a bottle
i drink my troubles down

the man i love is a killer
the man i love is thief
the man i love is a junky
the man i love is grief

some call saturday the sabbath
it's the bottom of the line some say
whether last or first, my heart's gonna burst
and there ain't no help my way
here with a pill and a bottle
and a life full of been done wrong
i'm a candidate for the coroner, a lyric
for a song