how to say hallelujah

OLD HAUNTS

The poem reaches like a zigzag vine

through thick vernacular

toward the actual here

& now (woodpecker in a pine).

Turbulent nation, giving birth

to glossolalia.

How to say hallelujah

in Osage, in downtown Fort Worth?

Don’t ask Dallas.  Some holy fool,

some mendicant small-fry

tried to catch Caesar’s eye

before that scapegoat kicked the stool –

you know the rule.  I’d’ve marched

if I had to.  The heat

made everything complete

hell.  Our very words parched

on our lips, like crackling cicada husk.

Some said he was coming back,

some just nibbled hardtack,

but all agreed – he could really busk,

back in the day.  Seldom was heard

a discouraging word, when

he blew that harp.  Listen,

disconsolate hearts.  What appeared

before you on the road to Emma’s

echoes again like dew

before morning – will do,

will do.  Old haunts of summers...

7.12.18