●
And on the third day
The tacos are at their best
See a wild beast tamed
Jim Bodeen
23 May 2023
HOW IT WORKS. HOW IT IS. HOW. HOW. HOW. HOW.
HOW IT WORKS. HOW IT IS. HOW, HOW, HOW HOW:
Sometimes they trade place
Poetry and scripture change
Poetry may lead
Scripture can break trail
The two confuse the many
Followers go mad
Vanilla sweet cream cold brew
Showcase Mother's Day garden
Jim Bodeen
13 May 2023
SCAB FORMS ON MY LIP
*
Scab forms on my lip
from shaving with snow shovel
hat brim shade blister
Jim Bodeen
4 May 2023
BIRD SONG, TOO!
BIRD SONG, TOO!
Petals snow-storm porch
Cherry blossoms’ blown pollen
breeze-swept in my nose
Jim Bodeen
4 May 2023
SHE IS.
SHE IS.
Karen’s on the front porch
Cherry blossoms in her hair
She’s San Francisco
Jim Bodeen
3 May 2023
QUICK, THE NOTEBOOK!
QUICK, THE NOTEBOOK!
Barely whispered notes
Look, it’s after 4 am
Just by saying it
Jim Bodeen
1 May 2023
STARTING WITH JOHN NEWTON, VERSE FOUR OF AMAZING GRACE
STARTING WITH JOHN NEWTON,
VERSE FOUR OF AMAZING GRACE
“...he will my shield and portion be…”
Thoughts which rise up in me,
while singing—Me, who has his own
personal jeweler! Who makes me shields!
Newton admits here, that he will not,
will not, sleep, in this life.
He won’t sleep in this life. We,
we want
to sleep in this life.
To me, he’s admitting,
ok, confessing, he can’t sleep
now. He doesn’t say,
He is my shield and portion--
He hears.
He hears those chained
human beings—newly what?--slaved? How?
crying in the deck
(in the depths). Below,
that’s why we listen,
now, to Aretha, her Amazing
Crossing Time And the Atlantic,
or, remember Julie Betzing?
Singing with Greater Faith,
or, Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist in Yakima,
the only white girl gone joyful,
(and remember, I have my own jeweler,
my own shield maker.) Aretha’s
syllable count can be timed and verified.
You’d sing, too, as Leonard does,
Show me the place
where the word becomes a man,
like Mahalia does, she who showed
Aretha, and then Elvis,
(But Elvis only after you’ve been
soul-shocked cross-born
before Thomas A. Dorsey,
his Precious Lord, and listened
hard enough to say, He,
will be my St. Paul),
listen then, listen too,
to Harlem Gospel Choir,
Soweto Gospel Choir,
listen to Amazing Grace on your radio,
even George Jones. But first,
Archie Shepp’s for a weekend,
only that, his Amazing Grace,
opening only then to all of his Goin Home
for, say the rest of the time you’re in,
opening then to Shepp with Horace Parlan
and Trouble in Mind.
Nina Simone, by the way, only opened one show
with Amazing Grace. Stop on that.
(I’ve never heard it.) Then,
Hank Jones and Charley Haden can be heard
and witnessed, changing you, in a medley
Abide with me, Just As I Am, Amazing Grace,
on Steal Away—Thank God! His bones
don’t break on the keys! I’m listening now--
What a friend! What a friend! Now,
all our sorrows turn towards Shepp’s
My Lord, What a Morning,
And the phone rings.
Pick up. Pick up.
And even after listening to what came in
on the phone you have enough
left to bring what you brang,
because you did, you do
bring something to this,
something never been heard.
[for my friends Barry and Marty]
Jim Bodeen
22 April 2023
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