Reunion Summit

Reunion Summit

A Jalapeño pepper
in a Savannah Churches
it bit my tongue
so sweet and hot.

I had just been transferred
from a nearby circus.
I didn't miss
what I'd never gotten.

I was soon to be
headed to the Courthouse
for another summit.
Stone gargoyles stared
in the village green.

I watched
daybreak approach
slowly
like clockwork.
I stared into
the crack of dawn.

The stars were red
and the night was swampy.
I crossed through the cemetery
and heard her clicking heels
on those streets of stone.

The constellations
seemed so foreign
observed obscure text
written in the stars.

In the morning
sunlight
cut over an eastern hill.
At the little church
a block over from Broadway.

The steeple of the church
framed us well
among a small group of people
as there on the steps
we burnt the document.

She mentioned some gibberish
about how our forefathers
were free now
but still
scrounging for bread.

Something about her spirit
deep golden and blue
her radiance
she was blonde in the sun.

The next day
at Rockville Lumber and Supply
in the shadows of the warehouse
I was kicked back
locked down on the job.

The electric hiss
spewing hydraulic steam
then the quiet
as it needles down on point
then the rattling
of the hammer pole.

The shimmering
little tin valley
across the lot to the wood shop
packed over with asphalt
and white concrete.

Watching
through
the shimmering haze
of sunlight.
Always some commotion
and the arrival
of unexpected customers.

In the field of stone
I saw the grass
then I saw the lions
in a surreal daydream
I hallucinated a lion parade.

The heat and the haze
was glowing
the mimosa blooms
were wilting.
Old Country tune on McLeod's radio
weeping willows
and the sad story of Ms. Kibbles.

The holiday meeting
had gone well
I was back riding shotgun
making deliveries
in the lumber truck.

-Will Dockery (Summer 1981)

Boarding House

Boarding House

The truth echoes
always and forever dead.
A brittle glow worm
got caught in the snow.

Hugo told me
tears were going to flow.
We were watching baseball
a sad game.

I wish it could ring out
like bells
but it is silent and still.

It was when I was staying
at the boarding house
across from the park.

I hated those bells
and I hated that place.
At the same time
I loved it.

Time stood still
during those bleak days.
There was no island
no ocean.

There's golden Heaven now
streets of gold
people embedded in gold.

She has passed now
she had wandered in sorrow.
The constellation Leo
domicile of the sun.

Hugo got his
that's for sure.
Now I have to sit
and wait for mine.
A sad game.

She passed into colors
it echoed through the world.
But nobody heard it
always and forever dead.

Splashing water
and thin tanks
in early daylight
fading constellations above.

Lost stone city
with mud streets
out in Lee County.

She remembered that city
that river
those friends.

Time stood still
in my room
in that boarding house
always and forever dead.

-Will Dockery (1993)

Another Gone World

Another Gone World

Poster Hut
sort of head shop
I used to walk past in 1981
on the north side of Atlanta.

It was way off the road
a block or two
down Cheshire Bridge Road
not far from the railroad tracks.

I only went in
once or twice
but always noticed it
as I walked that way.

Way over across a field
that was used as a parking lot.

And next to Poster Hut
was the Hot Line
the bar with telephones
in the booths.

That was where I met Tina
she was working there
and called me on phone
in my booth
and went home with me that night.

As Ferlinghetti called it
another picture of
another gone world.

-Will Dockery

Skyline at Daybreak

Skyline at Daybreak

Red plastic
6-Track tape
very significant.

-Will Dockery (6-26-21)

Poetry à Clef

Poetry à Clef

Okay
light bulb moment here.

All the fake stuff
was brought in
because what really happened
still hurts.

Better to babble
about Mott The Hoople
and Sissy Spacek.

Than deal with
what are obviously
bittersweet memories
of the days of yore.

-Will Dockery (6-24-2021)

The Ballad of Al Catfish

The Ballad of Al Catfish

Learning the hard way
is often the best way
it sticks in the memory
sets off certain alarms.

I was waiting
outside Richards Jr. High
for my ride after school
last week of the school year.

Albert Catfish walked by
with his friends
the rich boys

As Albert walked by
he punched me hard in the gut.

I was shocked
with the breath knocked out of me
I thought he was my friend
I learned a hard lesson about friends
that day.

Albert Fischer got mad
when I put him in a comic strip
as Albert Catfish
He found his place in the chronology
though mostly just forgotten erased from canon

He lived
up on Edgewood Road area
I think everybody did back then.

Tip Top Drive
all that uppity crowd.

I remember his face
Vic Noir and the others
also.
Tough guy with dirty blonde hair
greasy Germanic pimple face
his grin with nasty braces
eating tuna like a big shot.

Later
sometime during Summer
1973 vacation
they shipped me off to Carver High

But as in the Bible
I went to Hardaway High
to find my bride.

Al Catfish and Berlin
seem to fit.

-Will Dockery (6-23-2021)

Dark Whirlwind

Dark Whirlwind

The months
somehow turned happy
in the dark whirlwind
of 1985.

Although doom was certain
earlier that year.
Before Summer came
and was now drawing to an end.

Hot Summer nights
at the Shadowville Spinning Mill..

Dark Summer nights in a room
in Cabbagetown
looking over the river.

I got a call on the
mill speaker phone.
Billy Yancy in the Supply Room
saying come down to the front.

So I headed downstairs
about a city block
to the front gates.

Dark whirlwind night
Carlton Culverson
the Plant Two supervisor
met me in the break room
with coffee.

Carlton said
"Don't fall for it, Doc,
let her keep on going
this time.

He reminded me
I could have any woman in the mill
I wanted.
"Don't ruin the rest of your life
on her."

I waved him off.
held my head down.
with furrowed brow.
and stepped back into the fray.

Into the taxi cab.
where she was in the back seat, crying.
excitement and smiles
as I got in with her.

"Hey there, cab driver
kick it, man.
Get us to Cabbagetown
get us to River Avenue on time."

-Will Dockery (6-9-21)

Looking Through The Rain

Looking Through The Rain

When after the crying rain
soaked us completely
then came black clouds
but no rain any more.

We walked along the meadow
we laughed out there
along the trails.
The setting sunlight
was dancing in the sky.

The trees encircled
the sunlight poured
through the cracks.

She sprightly moved along
like an angel elf
and then the sky was like
a strobe light flashing.

She looked
like a goddess
of daytime light
in blues greens and yellow.

And now there I was
pushing the lawn mower
waiting for her to let me know
what to do next.

So she wouldn't let me drop
like a rock in the night
If she did this
I knew
I'd have to break free
and get loose again.

While she was away
I had hoped
maybe we could keep our minds
and passions
straight a while.

Autumn air
chilled my weary bones
as stars stood
in the dark blue sky.
Imaginary bones creaked
in my whirling neck.

I felt shaky
and I knew
but there was
no turning back.

All those times
I forgot her words
forgot all the other people
who bugged me.
I felt like I had to
make some rearrangements.

Riding in the shadows
piling up on the pain.
Thinking about those moments
in Rome, Georgia
looking through the rain.

Standing out in that rain
angry at her badly
talking
puffing a cigarette angrily.

I walked alone that night
full Harvest Moon
at my back
with clear little stars on
a Navy blue sky.

I walked away
with Sersi and Rael
the shadows of the yard
blocking all the light.

Bats fly at night
and the planet thunders out
fate sealed us together
that night
of that we had no doubt.

Sometimes when these words
just didn't seem to
come out right.
I started feeling
my head was falling
into the night.

I wanted to try and explain
my life to her
my drunken life as a peddler
none of it is news.

Subconsciously I was worried
then Jimmy Green's Volkswagen
shattered the silent night
like a machine gun.

It roared around my curve
and I jumped in shotgun
and soon
we sat inside it
somewhat drunk
as he drew the engine to a stop.

Out of gas
out of time
we hopped out
and walked over
to Sersi's house
a couple of blocks
down the line.

I had a little time left
and if I had a horse
I could have faded off
into the night.
Take off
sail free
into the human sea.

Hiding in the shadows
piling up on the pain
Thinking about those moments
in Rome, Georgia
looking through the rain.

-Will Dockery (September 1977)

Works of Art

Works of Art

She painted Henry Conley
She painted Bob Dylan
But she never painted me.

-Will Dockery (4-11-20)