Yeah, not just fingers, but hands,
shoulders, torso, limbs, Good Golly,
Miss Molly, everything swings up and over
the ivories, blasting away the past
with the lit stick of boogie-woogie
and blues rolled up in rock that explodes
from his lipsticked lips crackling with
Slippin’ and Slidin’ and Tutti Frutti
like they own the joint,
‘cause they do. Nah, nothing
little ‘bout his lungs wailing
Long Tall Sally, nothing
little ‘bout that pompadoured dude
blowing the lid off the fifties.
Sage Graduate Fellow of Cornell University (MFA) and Director of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 11 collections of poetry including Wives’ Tales (Seven Kitchens Press), True, False, None of the Above (Poiema Poetry Series and Illumination Book Award Medalist), Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (Yellowglen Prize), and Perpendicular As I (Sandstone Book Award). In addition, Marjorie is the co-editor of Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (PSU Press 2005), the author of four children’s books, and Inside Out: Poems on Writing Poems. Marjorie lives with her husband and two children in Williamsport, PA. For more information and reviews, please see www.marjoriemaddox.com