The Sink
Hey, I’ve known poor Mississippi
years ago(lynchings) run out,
ran to New Orleans
got a gig
played didn’t stay
jammed in Chicago
Hey, I’m hot in France
got millions for my blues
learned me sadness well
been to Italy too
Déjà vu my Venice
Louisiana mud
wakes my horn
I blow wakes
into funeral bowls that
leach blood gumbo
In mud my
Mississippi meandering
lays my delta sorrow out
When water taps were dry
some taps on roofs were heard
some taps in fact
were played in death
an act of attics sealed
Because death lived in levees corrupt
the Saints can’t march in threes
by Convention Center guts
Trudging in Louisiana mud
wakes my delta sorrow
lets my borrowed
Mississippi horn meander
Hey, making me a solo Mardi gras
with a Bourbon in Paris
’cause the spirits are
telling me to celebrate
Hey, I do great tears, but
really, I know, the heroes
will yet be known
yet inspire:
I celebrate my heroes
—Douglas Gilbert
Books by Douglas Gilbert
