The song is...: Blues 'round Midnight and Meeting Old Man Scratch

Photographer -- Matthew Polsfuss

Today Georgia poet Clifford Brooks brings us back to blues. The first poem, "Blues 'round Midnight," was inspired by Billie Holiday and Robert Johnson, both of whom need no introduction. The second, "Old Man Scratch (2)," responds to the blues of Barry Adamson, who began his career in the post-punk band Magazine and later joined the Buzzcocks. Like many British rockers, Adamson went to art school for a time.

Enjoy these soulful poems that channel both traditional and new blues.

Blues ‘round Midnight

Robert Johnson is laced in my cigarettes.

There ain’t no other blues

the universe can throw

at me

like being blood-drunk.

The Devil knows my number.

Gums receding, mentally rickety,

there’s the memory of losing a girlfriend

to Jesus.

He can have her.

She’s married with five kids now.

When guilt comes,

I got somewhere else

to be.

…

Little old ladies are precious

in churches

where organ music never changes.

It’s a tender language.

It’s a prayer list.

Such a small, quiet room

where people think of the dead

and sniffle.

The stabbing sprawl

of what pain is,

is the same

as the day after vodka

sucked from a plastic bottle.

Amore and addiction (their taste

is exactly the same):

I stitch both in a potato sack

and cast it into the Cohutta.

I reflect on all the reasons

life hasn’t let me go

when there’s doubt

this warrior’s walk won’t work out.

Doubt:

It’s time to give up that ghost.

The only choice is what

form of attrition I enjoy most.

For far more than a few hours

I’m sure I’ll still stay up,

fumble with ideas beyond

what my mind and fingers

can form.

I will ignore rusty pipes

as migraines mend,

an agony kept quiet by,

Don’t Explain.

Billie's "Don't Explain" is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ2gnNRNFSU

Meeting Old Man Scratch (2)

Old Man Scratch

seems sat-back-easy

on my front porch,

slouched in a chair

where my grandmother snapped

green beans

during times

men were more crossroads wise.

Predestination or not,

Granny

knew her eldest grandson

is one

who would welcome calamity

for more celebrity

than he can carry.

There’s black magic around

my enchanted

choice of occupation,

but it is the music

that keeps a fire in men.

The Saint of Pimps

appears almost blameless.

Iniquity reclines in a reverie

that seems complete and content,

like the first time

I kissed a girl.

....

There's a familiar shadow

between us,

in the sun they look the same.

Barely a breathable distance

in that space at any time,

it’s deliciously brutal.

There's too much truth in

Georgia-poet voodoo

to let me forget

my momma,

and a monster,

have an equal share

of my tombstone stock.

There's a tally taken

for every untouched flower

I pick, promise forever,

then only keep a single evening.

There are spells in ink

up both arms

to squirm a few more weeks

of Sundays;

to stay in the sun

until my Wendigo wise up.

Mad-rushing memories

have immortalized motels in Athens

and romances in Rome.

This restlessness

is from knowing

there’s a hard time

to get on with.

I try not to make my folks

fuss too much.

I’ve got one’s good sense,

and the other’s talent

for thinking around it.

Morality is best left to Milton.

I’ve got a 100 dollar bill

and golden fiddle built-in

when the world, during a rave,

or Easter morning, ends

on a high note.

…

Digging back into the Devil,

my only two cents sneers out:

Bring on the Rapture!

I’m sure Paradise is boring,

if all the women there are pure.

I’ve got better things to do

than worry about fear, forgiveness,

and you.

Barry Adamson performs "Jazz Devil" in 2010:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DbmKoeGOIk

I have been looking for more performances to post at The Song Is... as jazz is about performance. Fortunately, Clifford obliged with videos of his performances. In the picture below, you can see the Atlanta skyline.

Photographer -- Matthew Polsfuss

Here Clifford is reading at Rome, GA's Second Service @ The Vault:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGE0s9GWeyg

His recording of Charles Bukowski's "Poetry Readings" is also at the Bukowski Library:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWKYXI4vYNQ

Clifford truly has a gorgeous voice!

Rapper and poet Ezra Letra has drawn on Clifford's talents in "Tears from the Same Cloud." Please support them by purchasing this download:
http://ezraletra.bandcamp.com/track/tears-from-the-same-cloud-feat-clifford-brooks

Photo of Ezra Letra by Letra himself

Clifford has also collaborated with poet-editor-writer-lawyer-and-former-hip-hop-artist Jamez Chang on "Whirling Metaphysics." The painting in the video is by Ka-Son Reeves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CE94uyfLUs

"Whirling Metaphysics" reminds me of what I like about hip-hop, the blend of words and music and poetry. And Jamez has a great voice. (I would hit the exclamation point, but Callie, the other cat, is sleeping on that particular key. She has been mesmerized by all the videos I've been playing. Thelma, on the other hand, is keeping my husband company while he reads in the other room.)

Photographer -- The Wispy Gypsy

Here is Clifford's bio:

Clifford Brooks, a native of Athens, Georgia, grew up running wild among trees and open air all over his home state. A Huck Finn in his early years, by far not a fan of public school (or being indoors for that matter), he began to write as an escape. His passion for letters grew over time into short stories and humorous non-fiction he became known for in smaller literary circles.

It wasn’t until 2003 that he took up poetry as his sole muse. A few years later, with the help of an agent, editor(s), and publisher, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics became a means of introduction to a much wider audience of readers.

Before turning teaching and creative writing into a means of financial survival, Clifford worked as a bookseller, landscaper, juvenile probation officer, and social worker. In 1999 he received a Bachelors of Science in History/Political Science from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia.

Today his book, The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics, has been nominated for 2 Pushcarts, a Pulitzer in Poetry, and Georgia Author of the Year. With the attention his literary career has garnered, he has since started The Southern Collective Experience and invited into The Last Ancients. Both of these groups have given Clifford new energy and inspiration to complete his next book, Athena Departs.

He hopes that you will visit his website for more: http://www.cliffbrooks.com/

The Draw of Broken Eyes & Whirling Metaphysics is also available at Barnes & Noble online and Amazon:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-draw-of-broken-eyes-and-whirling-metaphysics-cliff-brooks-3rd/1109476180?ean=9780983365532

http://www.amazon.com/Draw-Broken-Eyes-Whirling-Metaphysics/dp/0983365539

In Amelia Clegg's photograph below, the men are, from left to right, Randy Brown, Jr.; Andy Whitehorne; Jamez Chang; and Clifford himself. All are members of the Southern Collective Experience: https://www.facebook.com/TheSouthernCollectiveExperience