Bluesman, by Pamela Mordecai

As we wind down September, I would like to share the poem, "Bluesman", by Pamela Mordecai, from her latest collection, Subversive Sonnets.

Bluesman*

It have all kind: Pushkin, Dumas, and, him same one

say so, Vincent Van Gogh. Him tell him bro, Theo

to smoke a pipe: “Is a good tonic for de blues,

which take me over, dese days, now and den.”

Him reason: “How you figure folks see me?

A ragamuffin… lowest of de low.”

Him say: “Painters come like a family,

a mix-up mix-up bad for all o we

for everybody fighting the next one.”

Him tell Christina, “No mind you’s a whore

from where I sit, you irie, evermore.”

Him recommend: “Don’t yield before the end . . . ”

Blowing him mind with a wild brush like Miles.

Like Don painting the scene with him trombone.

 

*Van Gogh’s words are slightly adapted from his letters in

Vincent by Himself . ed. Bruce Bernard (London: Time Warner), 2004.






Copyright 2012 Pamela Mordecai.
Reprinted with author's permission.