I remember I went downstairs
For a smoke around midnight
Following the girl with thin thighs
With nowhere to hide inside skin-tights
She spun while banishing a tear …swipe.
And said “just ‘cause you riff, don’t mean you Write
Just cause you jive, don’t make it wrong
Just make it better. Just have a ball.”
And she was right.
That night, she was right.
What choice did I have?
Some people…sprinters
Some folks, joggers
I can be a broke-down plodder
So what?
Just get somewhere
That’s all that matters.
So I plod onstage
…hating Mic’s
Verging on panicky pee - pants
while drowning in stage fright
But being totally Ignored
Was my plight
...no recognition
......no applause
............. sitting there
Just backs at the bar
In heady patter chatter
Until I capped it
And it squealed
FEEDBACK
made heads snap
Back to me
the fool in the corner
At the back of the room
Lights fade
attention paid
they stare now at this Empty Shell
while one drunk yells
‘What the hell you got, Fool?’
That’s when I knew
I was Up.
