Working Gal Rock and Roll Poet: Water Boy

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Water Boy

(Rewrites of the Rites of Spring)

Pay attention to the nice things people say about you
Write 'em down on tossed cigarette boxes
Struggling…

Ends meet and go through the meat grinder
Will I hear my drowning spiral?
Now? No.

Am I passing through the edges, bumping in the maze
Do I need healing or relaxing?
Lax? Me?

I saw the Water boy sweating
on a hot day, drinking water,
he didn't hurt himself with wine
He did talk with himself

By fall we reached the Water Boy,
didn't drink, smoke or fend for himself.
I bought him socks
A Christian brought him foods

I hope no one hollered at him
Someone stole from him
Everything—clothes and writings—
his thoughts dragged off cigarette boxes.

I made it through the winter
with thoughts now on candy boxes
letters, numbers...

I see a cream-colored cat on a high fence
Can you save her from the barbed wire?
In the rain? I tried.

All I could do was give her a name: Barbie
Barbie fed by a cute cat lady of 80
who was frightened the kitty would fall
I said I'd save her, but she disappeared.

My Water Boy had a Texas accent
People thought he had a mental illness
He was subject to being stolen from, and humbled
to sit on a park bench 'til he followed Barbie away.

My book is called THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION, which is a title I've played with throughout my entire adult life. It's based on The Music Explosion who rocked with a favorite song, "A Little Bit Of Soul." It's optimistic, and self-empowering, which is a quality I love in art... Three things have been constant in my life—- writing, music, and animals. Likewise, I've adapted the words to Frank Sinatra’s hit, “That’s Life.” I sing, “I’ve been a poet, a pauper, a publicist…. up and down…..” My poetry book, The Leighton Explosion (Soul Asylum, Canada) shows my range of emotion and different interests, especially rock music. My publisher Ken Cowle says I “made him laugh.” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, who writes the book’s foreword, praises my “lilt” and “personality” in an encouraging note. While I usually work as a music publicist with musicians including Jethro Tull, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train, and Michael Veitch, I've also made money from my poetry. This includes the Grammy-nominated album, Healthy Food for Thought: Good Enough to Eat, (Audio & Video Labs) with me reading my poem “Feed Your Parents Well.” My poems have been published in The Indie Collaborative’s “Holiday Program,” “The Literary Parrot Anthology,” “Elephant Journal,” “BOG GOB,” “Powerline,” “the Aquarian,” and “Nickel.” I've performed live at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Peter Max’s Studio. Some of my plays have been performed live—one by the Poets Repertory Theatre of Long Island and another by the San Antonio Living River Church, and at New York City’s Howl Fest. My other books are Paws For Thought: How to Understand What Your Cat is Thinking (Rockwell Books, UK), Using Your Art & the Media to Comfort People (Free To Run Books, West Hills, CA), and the self-published e-book, Get the Gig (Common Sense Career Consulting). I recently started producing pop music singles, which can be heard at soundcloud.com/leightonmedia/sets/anneleightonsongs.