My favorite Appalachian dulcimer had suddenly left “on holiday”
But that wasn’t going to stop me
I went to call on the ancient blues legend in his sixth-floor
Walk-up down on the Avenues because you know
I’d come too far to let the harsh estrangement of an instrument
Collude in such a singular disappointment
I was just like Ulysses but better dressed
Against the call of all the blue sirens lighting up Desire
& the moment my riverboat had docked along the fat pier
At New Orleans I’d set off on my mission
To step right off into that long-legged darkness with nothing
To protect me but my flaming Koa 1937 Nioma Hawaiian guitar
& the faith the songs that I knew were there awaiting me
Were the lessons I could paste like armor
Along the ragged seams of my soul those soul patches
For those soul scars & finally as I knocked on his worn door
I could hear the metal clasps of his guitar case
Snapping like the jaws of an alligator biting at summer flies
Then he opened up just standing there
In a purple bathrobe over a torn T-shirt & freshly pressed jeans
Smiling the way the moon smiles down on Lake Pontchartrain
& so began my true education & the resurrection of my good name