CAUSE IT DON’T MEAN A THING

Nothing been taught really worth the learning.

Having no time for formal training.

Pushed his way to the foot of the stage.

The stagnant heights of commercial success.

Storming citadels of sophisticated taste.

The one kicked out the one who gots the gift.

Idiosyncratic gambits soon to follow.

Beer-stained walls giving way to combustion.

Every goddamn earshot angel barbecued.

Urged to strike out on their own.

Big and fat the love all punch and bounce.

Once having heard what no one else had heard.

FOR MORE THAN A MERE FIFTEEN

His cresting fame a contract that he left unsigned.

Having dropped out of school.

Then society itself.

Such precocious elegance all categories ignored.

As the women went on and on.

Sailing past the whispers.

Trout sandwich in his pocket stinking up the room.

IMPROVISO

With skin enough to make us lay our Bibles down.

Unwarranted outcome of a rape that’s me.

Specialized in soft insinuation.

Born of a father who shoveled lard I’m told.

Who couldn’t afford a decent suit.

Dropping out of school.

Disciplined affairs rehearsed for hours on end.

Newfound fame that wouldn’t last long.

A club for moneyed whites.

Unheard of chords the turning point of his career.

The ultimate autodidact hot and fast.

Just lock the doors and blow.

Self-taught dissonance in a language now my own.