John R. Cash, American Singer

Johnny Cash is singing about
his escape from The Pit. He's
still white beneath the gills from
all that heroin he needled in his
brain pipes. He wears a long-
sleeved black dress shirt & blue
overalls with a wide belt holding
up the pants. He's got a firm
grip on his guitar between his
knees & he's standing up lean-
ing over it & scraping it with his
fingers like he's shaving a baby
hunting for that song along the
tight strings as his mouth chews
on the microphone. He's got his
own Voice not made & manufac-
tured by The Company: it's got
whiskey in it & cigarette smoke &
cheap bitter black coffee crying
babies rusty old automobiles &
jails ruffians on motorcycles & at
the very middle of it stands one
beautiful pure woman in Heart
Center: The Music rules The House.
John Cash is singing. His voice
is a railroad map of America made
of living tissues. I am going to sit
here at the bottom of the bathtub
& drink this song. Then I'm going
to get up & dry off, put on some
fresh clothes & get on my hands
& knees & crawl to the mailbox to
see if I got a love letter from the
most beautiful woman in the world.

RLG copyright 2006