By E. Amato
It’s All Lou Reed’s Fault
It’s all Lou Reed’s fault
II
It was all Joni’s fault
the way she’d birdsing broken hearts
until you can’t wait to have that bell to ring
“Candy came from out on the Island”
“out on the Island”
could only mean one thing. This is how we
referred to it –
Long Island in relation to “the city” Manhattan
–
out on
“Don’t it always seem to go”
When he leaves
you sing
when he leaves you write a song
when he leaves you are in sisterhood
with Joni
through the radio he pitched the plea
get on the train
get on the train
get on the train
It is all Aretha’s fault
the way she demanded respect
from a man incapable of understanding
what respect might be
the way she stood up for herself in that losing
battle
“in the backroom, she was everybody’s
darlin’”
there is fun to be had
there is fun to be had
there is fun to be had
It never occurred
to choose a man
who might inherently bring
that respect to the table.
“shaved her legs and then she was a he
she say; hey babe – take a walk on the wild
side”
Instead,
we bang our heads against the walls
of men with mother issues
who never learned to do their own laundry
and think going down
is woman business
OMG – get me to the transvestites!
Get me to where the action is!
Get me to where the coloured girls sing!
Get me off this ISLAND!
Lou Reed’s New York
Chandler’s Los Angeles
they swept the back rooms
of undiscovered countries
set signal fires
for us to follow
make our path
shine lights
live stories
from the time I was 12
I would jump that train
run away to this secret world
and dream of living there
until I did
It’s all Billie’s fault
the way she made having it bad sound so good
It’s all Janis’ fault
the way she came alive as someone stole her
heart by pieces
It’s all Amy’s fault
the way she won’t go to rehab cause her
daddy think she fine
this twisted romance with the wild side
this enticing darkness on the edge of town
this last call to art like heroine in blood and
veins
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THE CONE - ISSUE #8 - WINTER 2016