~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Dr. Emory D. Jones

Delta General

Under the levee
Next to the Mississippi River,
A dilapidated frame store stands
Gray-brown on the outside against Orange Crush signs,
Dark behind the screen doors that bang gently when you enter—
Glass cases full of jawbreakers and case-knives
Squat behind humming red Coke boxes;
Earth fragrance clings like a lover
Around cooler of Blue Ribbon and Jax.

At night,
Guitar sings soul in next-door juke joint,
Harmonica wails pain away—
Blues ooze, cake-walk out of doors—
Strings sing under callused finger-tips of Son;
Muddy wails waters of tears
In a Rainey night in Greenville,
As eternal as the flow of the River to the Gulf.

Delta Blues

Guitar sings soul in roadside juke joints,
Harmonica wails pain away—
Blues ooze, cake-walk out of doors—
Strings sing under callused finger-tips of Son;
Muddy wails waters of tears
In a Rainey night in Greenville,
As eternal as the flow of the River to the Gulf.

Jazz started right here,
Slapping its feet on
The Mississippi Mud.
And then it moved north
Through St. Louis
And ended up
In Chicago.

Yes, it’s a long way
From the Delta
To Chicago.

Dr. Emory D. Jones is a retired English teacher who has taught in high school and in several community colleges. He has five hundred and fifty-nine credits including publication in such journals as Writer’s Digest, Pegasus, Halcyon Days Magazine, The Cumberland River Review, The Delta Poetry Review, Calliope, Deep South Magazine, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, and Encore: Journal of the NFSPS. He lives with his wife in Iuka, Mississippi. Email: pianot@bellsouth.net