blues for breakfast

for B.B. King

3 o’ clock
in the morning
I woke up
feeling troubled

nothing unusual
for me
but luckily
I had not drunk
the night before

or there
could be extra
demons
ghost dementia
‘till six
in the mornin’

I
thought about
this
that
and the other
things I needed
to do
in life

until
a catfight
outside my window
broke my blues

noticed
the shadow curves
of my wife
as she got up
and went quickly
back
to sleep …

and felt
sort of sad again
lonely
on my side
of the island

feeling
like
you done me wrong,
baby

check
my new big badass
phone for
distraction

and
see a picture
of Rick Nielson
of Cheap Trick
getting his Gibson
signed for the third time
by B.B. King …

so
it would be blues
for breakfast
also,
not unusual
in our home

and the thrill?
no,
it isn’t gone

it’s just
waiting
inside an empty glass
her next kiss
the sound of
time machine door
opening
or the dinosaur
roaring
in your backyard

it’s
all here
all of it alive
always
but
when you think you’ve
got the deep sads

at least
there was someone
out there
up front
and unafraid
to tell you

I feel it, too
I feel it, too
and not only that
I’m going to tell you
twice

and
play the guitar
with the elegance
of Willie Nelson
on his best day rollin’
past the juke joints
on the prairie

America
is a land of harsh invention
and B.B. was one of its Kings

saluted and awarded
by no less than President
Bush 1 & 2

this poem
may be longer than need be
but
if I were catholic
this one
might go on all night

the coffee is black
and almost as hot
as the girl
that hands it to me

give it a little milk,
honey

B.B.
once sang
“Goodbye everybody,
I believe this is the end”
but it never was
never will
be

everybody
has had
the blues sometime
everybody
has had it
hard sometime

but
if you’ve got
a heart
you can’t listen
to Lucille strummin’
and feel
something
better
than
blue

I
will try
to remember
that
when
my daughter
won’t
get ready
for school
on time.

Bradley Mason Hamlin is an American writer, veteran of the United States Navy, and alumni of the University of California, where poet Gary Snyder dubbed Hamlin “The Road Warrior of Poetry!” Hamlin was born in Los Angeles and currently lives in Sacramento, California with his wife, kids, and wild cats. He is the creator of Secret Society Comics and publisher at Mystery Island Publications. His latest book of poems, Zen in the Art of Drinking, is available from Holy&Intoxicated Publications. Much more on Bradley Mason Hamlin can be found via Mystery Island by clicking here…