Winners and their blues

Death in the morning, lying next to me in bed
her eyes are stormy, and her lips an angry red
she says she loves me, and my heart forgets my head.
 
Death in the daytime, up and leaves me by myself
heard through the grapevine, she belongs to someone else
she's a deceiver, but she does it awful well.
 
Death in the evening, when my senses come undone
she don't believe me, when I tell her she's the one
she makes me swear it, at each dying of the sun.
 
Death in my nightmares, wraps her left hand round my neck
and with the right one, thrusts a knife into my chest
my life's a card game, and my woman stacked the deck.

Mandel don't love me
He treats me awful mean
Mandel don't love me
He treats me awful mean
Asks me to write 'bout

Chi-town and New Orleans
 
Says he want songs 'bout
Gath'rings in Congo Square
Asks us for songs 'bout
Gath'rings in Congo Square
Problem for me is,
Baby, I wasn't there
 
Wants to see songs 'bout
Ragtime 'n blues 'n swing
Wants to see verses 'bout
Bolden, Bechet, 'n "King"
Scratchin' my head 'cause
Can't think of anything
 
Mandel said, "post about
'merican roots of jazz:
Villanelles, haikus, 'n blues
'bout the roots of jazz"
Must be too hard, though
'Cause look here:
Nobody has.

Storm clouds over head
Tears upon my pillow
No one home to tell my troubles to
Lyin' on my bed,
Cryin' like a willow,
Tryin' to hold on to all the things that I once thought I knew
Shadows creep and steal my sleep
And that is why I'm Gray, Not Blue . . .

I found about it  because I subscribe to The Arts Journal . . .My influences are - my mother who sang in the community w/her 2 sisters. My family is from the south, so music was very, very important. PBS which introduced me to a very wide variety of music. I also lived in Elkhart, In - Selmer and Conn band instrument companies, Baldwin piano. I studied the violin all through high school. Our orchestra teacher actually arranged Chuck Mangone's  "El Gato Triste" for full orchestra for us to play. * I've got a list of poems published, won an award and actually have a song on an independent CD.  So this contest was a great outlet for me.