VIGIL for Doc
lit the opium this morning
and black peppery smoke
split the air and swirled around me
like a foolish dream
​
I thought of Levine
squinting through sulfur flares
glaring at the sun on an
industrial Detroit morning
I could see Molina
sticking his thumb out for the last time
on the bridge out of Hammond
​
my heroes’ work
precious, never delicate
their scars never for show
they roamed far from Hollywood
and the price was always
too high for Heaven
​
a poem is the way of living
and a song the way of life
​
it’s why Molina was always leaving
beneath a blue Chicago moon
why Levine was always looking
for a white sun burning
beyond the towers, through the smoke
VIGIL appears in All in the wind, my third full-length collection of poetry and posse, released in 2016 and out now through Yellow Lark Press. Please join me this Sunday for a night of poetry and storytelling, celebrating the release of Justin Arnold's A Dog Outside At Night In A Fight at The Buzzmill. Love you Brother.