Three Blues Diamonds

.
.
The
old rag
and bottle
men down in New Orleans
would play cheap tin horns, making blue notes
that brought the children out
for candy
and small
toys.
.
.
In
my youth,
the showmen
each had a style, a hat,
a handkerchief, a worn overcoat,
and voices that knew time:
character:
the real
stuff.
.
.
The
bent notes

of the blues
come from the depths: they turn
that piercing sliver of cool sweet sound
that makes your soul shiver:
their women
loved that
way.
.