music clip of the day

James Carr (1942-2001), “The Dark End of the Street” (D. Penn, C. Moman), 1967

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lagniappe

reading table

Counting the Mad
by Donald Justice (1925-2004)

This one was put in a jacket,
This one was sent home,
This one was given bread and meat
But would eat none,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long.

This one looked at the window
As though it were a wall,
This one saw things that were not there,
This one things that were,
And this one cried No No No No
All day long.

This one thought himself a bird,
This one a dog,
And this one thought himself a man,
An ordinary man,
And cried and cried No No No No
All day long.

basement jukebox

James Carr (1942-2001), “To Love Somebody” (B. Gibb, R. Gibb), 1969

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lagniappe

reading table

Variations on a Text by Vallejo
by Donald Justice (1925-2004)

Me moriré en Paris con aguacero …

I will die in Miami in the sun,
On a day when the sun is very bright,
A day like the days I remember, a day like other days,
A day that nobody knows or remembers yet,
And the sun will be bright then on the dark glasses of strangers
And in the eyes of a few friends from my childhood
And of the surviving cousins by the graveside,
While the diggers, standing apart, in the still shade of the palms,
Rest on their shovels, and smoke,
Speaking in Spanish softly, out of respect.