Ballad Mambo

Inspired by Warren Smith

she is too frail to move

her hips / feet remember her free

in her sultry days

dancing mambo

pass cigarettes and beer

offered by the bodega one floor below

the social club

she struts

the heels must click

low cut tops / thigh high split skirts

                   must fit just so

she caught the same man

 in all his different skins

          with her heavily lined eyes

fake eyelashes glued on

saturday evenings

in darkness she sits by the window

her shoulders practice

the gentle back and forth roll

of a woman who knows

big gestures gain

nothing but spectacle

small ones sparkle to garner the prize

she imagines / traces

the tickle of her hem’s slight swish

against her skin / the soft shift of his hip

yields her into his gentle but firm lead

above the street noise of sirens

she hears in the shifting gear of her wheelchair

one /

two – three

five /

six – seven

one /

two – three –

five /

six – seven

when she moves toward her widowed bed

the wheels turn

click

the romance

the rhythm of mambo

Bluesman

when her bluesman comes to town, her body uncurls in juke’s smoky cave. her guarded mind is loosed by the warmth of his touch; her hair falls from its staid bun, runs long through his calloused fingers. when her bluesman comes to town, she is sweet butter crème folding into the tucks of his skin. as she suckles his sweat, her clothes loosen, puddle, freeze like spent candle wax. in the moment of release, she bathes in his brackish words, digs her heels in, lets the wash water grow winter. when her bluesman comes to town, draw the drapes shut ‘cause she’s a drunkard wading into the twang of his guitar. pushing her over frenzied line, he lays claim to the woman she hides. and she don’t mind ‘cause when her bluesman comes to town, her song... her song smolders low down in the sty. a melody teasing open the irregular... breath between his fingers, her skin hissing backbeat of rhythm uncorked, and she don’t give a damn who hears it when her bluesman comes... to town.