A Neo-Folklore

she plays little sally walker
got her hands on her hips
men in her mind

she plays sapphire
and old lady shine.

i leave my footprints on the door.
she is standing in the yard
with her hair in knots,
i do her a cakewalk
she calls me lying lips
and country.

i play the possum for her
get a job as a minstrel
with a traveling poetry show.
i make it a scene on the big city stage,
send her high-heel sneakers,
she does me a gris-gris with a drink
in her hand.

she orders me to dance allnight,
in late hour wine time with watermelon on my breath,
i teach her to boogie-woogie, she show me how
to limbo-rock on a bedspread.