Image: Bob Mudd, Ron and Susan Beall Summers ouside Kick Butt, Austin, my final performance for 2014.

 

27.04.14: 138) Alarm sounding I rose from my bed

Looked at the pool but decided on breakfast instead

Showered an’ dressed, tee shirt neatly pressed

Car ready, long way to go so take it steady

Left the hotel, wind like a blast from an oven

Hotter than a witches coven

No time for lurking, get the air conditioning working

Soon Mcallen’s behind, an’ a country music station I find

On the radio, still a long way to go

KJ97 sure is country music heaven

An' there's Like Bryan singin’ about the time he’d have give the dj his last dime

To play play it again, play it again,  one more time his woman’s song,

The one she's waited for all night long

Radio K Love praisin’ the Lord above

A station I found, that plays gospel music with a country sound

Drivin’ listenin’ singin’ along, the drive didn’t seem all that long

Soon San Antonio’s past, 75 minutes later Austin at last

To the airport to check tomorrow’s flight, it’s in order it’s alright

Now to my motel I’m away, to enjoy what’s left of my final day.

 

139) Lunch done, now drive where it’s quiet an’ enjoy the sun

If there’s folk, maybe we’ll talk an’ joke

An’ I’ll come away, to “have a nice day”

It’ll set me right for Kick Butt on my final night

 

Next poem written on location at Kick Butt

140) I’m at Kick Butt for the final time

Gonna rendition my travelin’ time

Not many know it’s my fourth Sunday in a row

I’ve recited whole hearted

On a tour that looked like it may never have started

On the day I should have been outward bound

My first plane never touched the ground

Hopes fading like shifting sand, to foggy for it to land

So home for the night,

The following day, different airport, different flight

Across the pond I flew, not three flights this time only two

An’ all the time I’m capturing it in rhyme

Austin late afternoon, not a moment to soon

Registered for the fest, city readings open mics and the rest

Then Kick Butt before I started a short tour

See part of America I ain’t seen before

To Indiana and Terre Haute, more an’ more poems I wrote

Inspiration I didn’t lack, wrote some more on the way back

Then more poetry to do at Kick Butt, appearance number two

At Austin Wildlife Rescue I spent my spare time

More inspiration for rhyme

An’ Austin once again goin’ round, more open mics I found

The Kick Butt, appearance three, an’ two days later I had to be

At San Antonio’s Barnes and Noble book store

With the Sun Poets to recite some more

An also I had been to Headhunters in between

Then took the road leading, to the Valley Festival an’ more reading

Workshops open mics an schools,

Readin’ Shakespeare breakin’ the rules

After which I have to pack, cos’ today I headed’ back

An walked through Kick Butts door, an’ do appearance number four.

 

So was this one mainly out of boredom, and impatience

141) The main act did song after song seemed to go on a bit to long

The hosts got up to introduce the poets but all in vain

The main group came back again

Seemed they didn’t want to go as if wanting to hog the show

But at last we got to have a go

Or so we thought, but on the stage the feature were brought

An’ I’m thinkin’ will we get a go, to let our poetry flow

Cos’ times flowin’ an’ soon I’ll have to be goin’

Biddin’ all goodnight, an’ get ready for tomorrows flight

The songs they sang numbered four, I’m thinkin’ “how many more?”

Thinkin’ things had gone to far when round came the tip jar

Which soon from our table was gone, we simply passed it on

Then they sang some more I thought “that’s it, I’m out the door”.

But Thom said “stay, me an’ Bob want to hear what you got to say

So I did as I was bid, and sat to yearn for my turn

At last I got to have a go, an’ really let it flow

Covering a whole month in a single rhyme

Listened to Bob then out the door

Had it not been for him an’ Thom, I’d have gone well before

But when I recited, the accolade,

I received made me think I’m glad I stayed