LEADBELLY BLUES
LEADBELLY BLUES GET IN MY BONES
I’m sick of old folks’ tears and baby’s groans.
I’m choke full of this lion-eating Rome.
I’m going where the eagle is going.
Zero, America, I’m going home.
I’ll be where I hold my lover at night.
My head’s a hammer and my toes are stones.
She’s got a bed the color of a rose.
Rain on the roof in the morning light.
Leadbelly blues get in my bones.
Rain on the roof in the morning light.
MICHAEL MCCLURE
PARIS POETRY 