“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”
- William Blake
A poem by Georgia native, Kitty Forbes. I don't know you, Kitty, but I love you!
Soft Like a Chainsaw
Kitt Forbes
Your voice sounds like blue-tail flies
trapped against a pane
like someone saving sinners
like a breeze blowing in a gourd
like banjos from hell
a runner-up in a hog-calling contest
five pounds of bacon being fried.
Like a stage full of local talent
like a fiddle playing sharp
like someone's long fingernails
scratching over an emery board
an egg-sucking dog
chewing on a chicken
grits hitting the fan.
Like someone stepping on a bullfrog
like a hundred boots scraping the mud off
like someone flicking a Bic in the back seat
a mosquito whining under the bill of your baseball cap
tobacco juice hitting a fly ball in mid-air.
Like the bus pulling out of Pulaski
like a waitress reciting the specials
to a table full of drunks
Like static on WSM radio
horns honking
knuckles cracking.
Like a squad of cheerleaders in cowboy boots
jumping up and down on cars in a parking lot
Like a couple yelling in the next motel room
nine hounds howling
in the back of a pick-up ---
Like the sound I heard while napping in the hammock
and someone walked across the porch jingling the keys to the Bronco.
Birthdays in Music: Miranda Lambert (1983) Singer/Songwriter