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Bay State Road Blues

January 30, 2018 Charles Rammelkamp

Bay State Road Blues

Upon listening to the Rolling Stones’ Blue and Lonesome for the first time.

Remember that time, forty years ago,
when we bought Hohner blues harp harmonicas,
got high on weed, wailed
what we thought inspired music
in that student studio apartment I had
near Kenmore Square, across the street
from the dormitory where they said
Joan Baez had lived?
Or was it Martin Luther King?

Or both?

We fancied ourselves Chicago bluesmen,
Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter,
full of soul,
our next move to busk
on the Common or the Public Garden,

or on the Esplanade by the Charles River

until the girl in the apartment next to mine –
was her name Linda? –
pounded on the flimsy particleboard door,
threatened to call the landlord
if you don’t stop making that noise!

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About Charles Rammelkamp

Charles Rammelkamp is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore, where he lives. His latest book is AMERICAN ZEITGEIST, a collection of poems published by Apprentice House (Loyola University), which also published MATA HARI: EYE OF THE DAY. A chapbook entitled JACK TAR'S LADY PARTS is forthcoming from Main Street Rag Press.

Filed Under: Blog

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