(Photo credit: JB)
Elvis Changed My Life On The Big Screen
At The Fox Theatre In Downtown Richmond, California
my grandma would give me
35 cents for the double feature
& I'd walk down to the
always empty Fox Theatre
sitting in the dark
I'd dig The King up there
on that great big screen
surrounded by beautiful chicks
singin' & swingin'
me thinkin', "Oh yeah. That's me man...
uh huh huh... awlll rye-ee-ight!!"
I'd drag my poor skinny young white ass
into the bathroom between flicks
pop a dime into the vending machine
& drop out a black ace
spread my legs apart
face the mirror & comb my hair
practice my sneer...
sing, "Angel... a-an-gel bay-ay-ay-beee...
oh, my sweet ayyyn-gellll..."
go back for the second flick
sit in the dark & believe that
it was possible
all over again
& again
at home I'd lay my
thick young mane back
into a racing slick pompadour
with gobs of Dixie Peach pomade
pull the front forward just like
Elvis the 19 year old truck driver from Memphis
Elvis The King
practice my sneer
in the bathroom mirror
sing, "Love me tender... love me true..."
dream of all those beautiful chicks & fast cars
all things possible
for a young boy from
the projects lorded over by a truck driving
stepfather from Nashville his mind
made mad by WWII & bisexual rage
he hated the sneer & the curl
dropping in front of my forehead
& hard as he tried
he couldn't beat it out of me
he must be long dead by now
a victim of his own fear & abuse
the glorious Fox razed along with
the old neighborhood
as myself & The King rock on
singing, "One for the money...
two for the show...
three to get ready now
GO CAT GO!!!
But donchew... step on my
blue suede shoes!"
a pale blue sky surrounds me
it is Wednesday morning
a buzz saw eats everything
& I am writing this to you now
telling you that yes
it's all right now mama
2006 S.A. Griffin
There Is
and still the sun screams down
upon this fleetingly sane and wicked monument to mortality
the machine guns of eternity grind out the days
the nights
fate hammers
down its final verdict
upon humanity somewhere as something breathes itself into extinction
the humanity we often never had
and many never will
but still believe in
that there is still
time enough for whatever it is
you have yet to accomplish on your
list of things left to do
that more than likely
will never get done
and only remember
that you are not alone
never were
never will be
no matter who or what you think you are
that within the darkest chambers of the heart
there is the possibility of light
that within the biggest tightest asshole
that leaves the biggest foulest footprint upon the blue blue morning of the globe
there exists something so small and physically imperceptible inside that asshole
with the ability to send that rage tumbling
back into the earth
something renewable
something still with the ability to
unravel government plots
stifle corporate will
unexplain the gods
and cause joy inside this tortured
world of war all the time
there is a flower that can't be stopped
there is laughter that must be heard
there is someone's love song with your eyes inside of it looking out
there is another moment left before the last
before the next
there is still time for love if you so desire
even if you don't
there is
regardless of what you think or feel or don't
there is
S.A. Griffin