My Own Book of Blues

This next post needs to be slightly prefaced. All of the writings I am posting were created during a short period while I was in Chicago. I have written more like them but these all sort of go together. It was a quiet time and I was really falling in love with the city. It was about this time that I discovered a lot of passion in the small things that I did and created.

The writings were an experiment that I did for myself. I wrote them based on a simple form that Jack Kerouac sort of created. There are several pieces all broken down into short segments. To help explain it better, here is a quote from Jack Kerouac in his poetry compilation 'Book of Blues':

"In my system, the form of blues choruses is limited by the small page of the breastpocket notebook in which they are written, like the form of a set number of bars in a jazz blues chorus, and so sometimes the word-meaning can carry from one chorus into another, or not, just like the phrase-meaning can carry harmonically from one chorus to the other, or not, in jazz, so that, in these blues as in jazz, the form is determined by time, and by the musician's spontaneous phrasing & harmonizing with the beat of the time as it waves & waves on by in measured choruses.
It's all gotta be non stop ad libbing within each chorus, or the gig is shot."

With that said, here is a taste of my attempt at Jack Kerouac's 'blues choruses'.

*****

The words are there,
but no one can see,
If they are only
in my head,
Are they
still
words -
Still thoughts?
or just emotions -

meaning?
Full or Less
Circle one, then
let me in on it.

*****

If time is so
precious then
why do we waste
it with our "breast
pocket notebooks"?
Why here - or on
that sheet there.
Turn me over and
waste here!
Atleast here will
live forever when
Time is wasted.
Time is here -
not yet wasted.

*****

To where will you
go?
When I leave -
where will
I go?
Why do I have
to have a clue
-O-
To what reasoning
is there that
I should know
Cabins, woods, dreams,
and rivers -
I shall take a
bus -
From coast to coast
I can place my
name on any
mail box.
I can sit in a
recliner and
get
-HI-
Watch time go
by - High and
Time go -
Where will I end
up? It's
as much
your clue
as it is mine.
g
u
ess
Because that is
where I will
be - Carmen
S a n d i e g o
That is where I
will be -
-O-
That is where
I WILL
BE
That is what I Love.

*****

Where am I now -
Chicago, well
not this second.
10
thousand miles
above the ground -
Airplanes
Flying or soaring
or
drifting in the air -
Ro ck et -
ing
and bringing a child's
imagination to life.

*****

honk honk
vezooonm -
screeching tires
but no end - no
bang. no
BANG. NO
in Chicago -
no pickup
or call in - bumper
to bumper but never
bumper
in
bumper

*****

My heart over
a sunset
R
i
s
ing to show
me how beautiful the
world is
How peaceful the
r
o l
W d is

My heart is here.

*****

My loves find
inspiration in Chicago.
Chicago finds
inspiration in
M E.
This is why I
love this city.

And why I don't
want to leave -
but I'm sorry -

The wind
The wind -
It goes West to East
West
to
East

But my love for
home will only take
me so far -
it will take
me West to East -

to O O
hi

to where I was
born, but that
isn't
enough - I read
and see a
place I love -
I drive to smell

it's air - passed
over the ocean.

The sweet smell
of land - and
salt
WA TER.
The water oooo
the Water of
California - or
San cisco -
Fran
where will I end -

I don't know -

I've never seen
Port LAND

But I hope to -
I dream to.

I have smelled a
beauty and I can
NOT
deprive myself
of that beauty - of
that sun
rise and Fall -

The sunset over
the ocean -
It wouldn't be
F A
I R to me.
To us.

But I may extend
my boundaries . . .

Boundaries beyond
our National
Bor
d
e
r
s.

Who knows.

I love where
I am -
And I know I'll
Love where
I will be.

This is not good-
bye
B
Y
E - just see
you Later.
The point is
Chicago - I have
to
Chica GO