i burn macker's poem in offering to the naked muse. macker's peckinpah poem 
drains the western high desert silence with tequila bloodlit rhythms. informs the 
wordslinger's last raspy breath with hallelujah hallelujah rainbow bonesight. 
interrogated in the shadow of blue horse mountain silence, it opens a song 
vein, a whispered eucharistic exhaltation, something like the sound of 
miles blowing prayer into the endless distance.

john knoll 

juke joint juju

driving back to pueblo from santa fe
rick puts on an early elvis tape with
good rockin tonight and elvis moans
all you need to know about outlaw poets
"have you heard the news?" (about las vegas?
about santa fe?) and the road was so rough
on the north end of raton just as we had 
come off the pass that i thought we had a flat tire
"there's good rockin tonight" groans elvis
and that's all you need to know about outlaw poets
(well, maybe there's a little something else)
we stop at mcdonald's for dollar burgers 
with green chile and a vanilla shake
(the night before in santa fe we had ordered 
an ice cream baked potato at the cowgirl hall of fame)
and elvis sings "have you heard the news?"
(about las vegas?  about santa fe?)
(and rick tells me about a guy who got stuck in a car
with elvis early on and elvis spent three hours telling
him his philosophy of life:  that life was about slippin
away from things, about the hush of the secret)
and elvis sings, "have you heard the news?
EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN TONIGHT
and that's all you need to know about outlaw poets:
EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN TONIGHT
everybody's rockin the world is rockin the planet about
ready to go off its axis tumble out of its orbit
EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN TONIGHT
the whole world's rockin tonight have you heard the news?
THERE'S A NEW THEATRE
POETRY IS THE NEW THEATRE
THE BLOOD OF THE POET IS THE NEW THEATRE
EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN TONIGHT
I WANT TO ANNOUNCE TO THE UNIVERSE:
THE REAL REVOLUTION LIES DEEPER
THE REAL REVOLUTION LIES DEEPER
THE THEATRE OF BLOOD IS THE NEW THEATRE
THE BLOOD OF THE POET IS THE NEW THEATRE

and rick slips out the elvis tape and puts on johnny burnett
and the rock n roll trio and all of a sudden i hear

"i caught a train i met a dame
and we trucked on down that old fairlane
the train kept a rollin all night long
the train kept a rollin all night long
with a heave and a ho
well, i just couldn't let her go"

the outlaws met in las vegas in santa fe
HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?
the planet rumblin with the real revolution 
(the outlaw poets met in las vegas in santa fe)
and now i'm gone really gone rockin strong boppin rockin
with the rockabilly blues doin the juke joint juju right in the car
jumpin jukin rockin all my blues away

"we made a stop in albuquerque
she must have thought i was a real gone jerk
we got off the train at el paso
her love was so good, jack
i couldn't let her go"

listening to all that rockabilly 
rick and i doin the juke joint juju  
we're gonna start a dance craze
called the juke joint juju
what it's about is
jukin the blues
what it's about is
my baby got me jukin
i'm gonna sing it:  juke joint juju
and while i'm singin it
i'm gonna dance it:  jukin the blues
my baby got me jukin
my baby got me jukin
my baby got me jukin the blues
see
you're dancin already

baby got me jukin  
out into the night   
baby got me jukin the blues  
out into the darkness  
baby got me jukin  
out into the blackness  
baby got me jukin the blues  
out into the neon  
there's blood in the moon  
out into the bright lights  
blood in the blues  
out into it  
tappin into it  
gettin into it  
there's blood in the mud of the bayou  
the dream taken  
baby got me jukin  
the words taken  
baby got me jukin the blues  
the blues taken  
baby got the juke joint  
all of it taken  
baby got the juke joint  
ramblin down  
baby got the juke joint juju  
drivin down  
now there's a blue moon  
coolin down  
goin down  
baby comin home soon  
i wanta hear the crossroads blues  
now there's the deja voodoo  
i wanta hear the fugitive kind  
jukin the blues  
i wanta feel her snakeskin moves  
jukin the blues  
feel her graveyard bones  
jukin the juke joint juju  
ride the train of midnight

Tony Moffeit