Erren Gerraud Kelly’s most recent poem to appear here was “Aurora Borealis” (October 2015)
Blues Like Sunday Morning
By Erren Gerraud Kelly
god loves the blues
so he won’t care if i miss
church to listen to the
devil’s music
though if i played b.b. king
or john lee hooker
around my mama
she’d chastize me
like people did when ray charles
mixed church music with blues
the blues and jazz are
first cousins
so i gravitate from
one to another
like jesus walking
on water
jesus was a blues man
he was all-seeing, all knowing
a blues man
pours his suffering
into 12 bars
a blues man offers his songs
like christ offered
bread as his body, saying
“come feast on my pain . . .”
the band is cranking
up a muddy waters
tune
jesus is saying “the table
is ready
come and eat”