six strings
tied to midnight
bent notes hanging
to eighth-note stems
like wind-blown
blackbirds
clinging
to a telephone wire–
twelve bars
to get past knowing
where your
fingers will fall
twelve bars
to find
the missing notes
between fixed metal frets
twelve bars
to wind
your fingers
around a feeling
twelve bars
to take these chords
to the crossroads
where blues
meets the bone