Big Joe Turner, by Dave Alvin
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Every juke joint
boogie woogie pianist
three day rent party
4 am tenor saxophone battle
Kansas City black woman
California
white
woman
New Orleans
Creole
every tapping
foot
every dress slit
up the side
every shot of
whiskey, vodka and gin
every blues song
every song that ever swung
every Chicago ballad
and New York rhythm and blues shuffle
every Saturday night kiss
every Sunday night tear
everything that was good and right
everything that had love for the world
is in a grave in Gardena.
From “Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You: Selected Poems and Writings 1979-1995” by Dave Alvin. (Incommunicado Press, San Diego: $12; 161 pp.)
Copyright 1995 Reprinted by permission.
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