Big Joe Turner, by Dave Alvin

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.