Getting back to poems, here's one on a song I've loved for some time, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's "Jackson," written by Jerry Lieber and Billy Ed Wheeler. I've finally written a poem for it. Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3NJC18Oi04
And here's the poem:
Jackson
We got married in a fever –
June Carter Cash and Johnny step on up
to a hot mic, with his guitar in tow,
to sing of Jackson. Johnny’s got a thing
or two he plans to do there. And then, June
lays into him like pork and beans. He says
look out, and steps off camera to let
June call him a
big-talkin’ man, her voice
like a train whistle as she flicks her skirt.
Johnny’s in black. And when he says the town
is
gonna stoop and bow, June laughs and says
they’ll lead him round town like a scalded hound –
she flounces, does a little step. And Johnny
moves up behind her to the mic, to hit
close harmony with her about the fever
they married in, and how the fire’s gone out.
They’re trading blows, you think – and then you catch
how gentle Johnny is – you see the smile
they share at every look they trade, the tight
harmony vocals, and you call to mind
how much he loved her, how she handled him.
We know the story. How the Man in Black
got into trouble. Jackson, Mississippi
may not be the big city, but there are
folks who have had this argument, and June
and Johnny sing for them: the man and wife
who married in a fever that’s gone out.