Big Joe Turner
could palm a jump blues
like an egg,

handle it rough
but always
without breaking it. 

Listening right now 
to the opening piano ripple
of “Shake Rattle And Roll”

and Big Joe Long Dead
still smites with the soft club
of his voice.

Big Joe I Wish To Have Seen You
Just Once, this is how it must have been
back then:

discovery followed by imitation.
I think I sound good, as good
as you.

The shell fragments on my hands
and the sticky yolk say no.
The heart of me says no too.

Big Joe Turner,
they are starting to forget you
and all your kiss curled imitators too

but Big Joe Turner,
thanks for the musical ache in my bones
that won’t heal no matter what they do or do not do.