Winners and their blues

Winners of this blog’s first Blues Lyric Contest are suitably troubled — and all get Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson Play the Music of Ray Charles DVDS to ease their weary minds. All have expressed regrets they can’t get to  Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts of Wynton and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra celebrating for Mary Lou Williams’ centennial or  alto saxist Maceo Parker, so sadly those tix go wanting. But that’s the blues for ya. . . 

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.

(Ms. Wolper has also written and sings “Grey, Not Blue” which begins: 

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 . . .

 . . . and continues through a bluesy chorus of duetting guitarist Ron Affif & bassist Ken Filiano; nice, al, thanks, it’s a treat.

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.