POEM | RESPONSE | MUSIC

Jimi Hendrix (Monterey Pop Festival, 1967)

In response to Dorianne Laux’s Mick Jagger (World Tour, 2008)

He plays for crowd after sold-out crowd, strumming his fluid fingers. If I blindfold my eyes, he’s a famished philanderer, a thirsty man sucking a juicy peach or tongue-tying cherry stems in knots. Sculpted face and stone — chiseled cheeks, billowy crown curled, banded, chest flanked in rusty frills, ruffled silk on sweaty skin, head swaying in sync with his hands. Despite his controversy, he’s a genius of grit and grace, pained face, velvet voice, his trademark stash framing his upper lip. He plucks rhythmic strokes with his teeth like he’s licking a woman, her spine tingling, flicking the guitar’s hollow navel, hands lifting the electric lady to his chin like he’s carrying a virgin bride over the threshold. Young as seed and experienced as Earth orbiting the sun, the smoke from his mouth levitates. His knees buckle, fallen in prayer. He conjures flames like a voodoo priest, taunts fire like a snake charmer. James Marshall, our six-string seducer, Jimi thrusting on stage, ax swinging. If only he could come back, just once, for one more minute, one more lick.

About this poem

If I could only have two songs to listen to for the rest of my life, they would be “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix and “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones.

So when I came across Dorianne Laux’s poem about Mick Jagger in her collection The Book of Men, I was compelled to write this poem in an attempt to mimic her rhythm and style. You can reference her poem in the link below.

And for anyone not familiar with the Hendrix performance I’m referring to, there are several videos on YouTube like this when he plays the guitar with his teeth and this when he lights his guitar on fire.

FUN FACT:

During the pandemic, when I was reading and writing a lot of poetry, I started following Dorianne Laux on Facebook. One day I got the nerve to send her my response poem in a message and let her know she inspired little old me. She still hasn’t opened it.😭 I wouldn’t open a stranger’s message either.

American writer in Washington, from Jimi Hendrix’s hometown of Seattle