(for Anna)

White man, white hat,
A rolling stone cat,
Blues fused to rock and scat.

Tumbledown games
With stories and names,
An old cowboy who maims.

Busker of life,
Electrified strife
As truth cuts like a knife.

Like Blind McTell,
You're lost in a spell
Whether heaven or hell.

Protest of woes,
Each word against foes
Like a murder of crows.

Folk boy turned lord,
A double-edged sword
When your voice meets a chord.

Circus singer,
Poet and swinger,
The night's magic bringer.

Wyatt Earp coat,
All grief in your throat
For the lines that you wrote.

Doctor of song,
All's right and all's wrong
When the highway's so long.

Minstrel of rhyme,
Still doing your time,
You're still doing your time,
Singing like talking as if it's a crime.

Peter Thabit Jones © 2016

Published in POET TO POET #1 BRIDGING THE WATERS - SWANSEA TO SAG HARBOR by Peter Thabit Jones and Vince Clemente, 2008