He wasn’t much to look at
anymore. No one
peeking in the window.
Sometimes girls would say
Look at that sweet old man
In his Sunday suit.
(pants hitched up high
Like a hepcat, like
Cab Calloway).
Even if he said his name, you
wouldn’t know. Joseph William is not
the name of a god, no Odison,
Otis, Elvis.
But if you said PINETOP
some would know (less than
Zeus, more than
Hermes)
that in his fingertips were
One million exploding suns. Cut his
Hands and out came Ike, the
devoted priest who tithed one
brand new suit to his god
every year.
So then: Grandfather of Rocket 88,
Sideman to the muddiest of
Waters, to old man River himself,
A breathing god shrouded in
battered Delta leather.
Who else but a superman
could stop a train.
Even Kal-El couldn’t do that
at 91.
Let’s call it an even century, sir
let’s argue forever over
who wrote the hook to Boom Boom, &
I’ll bring you champagne
when you’re thirsty.
PINETOP PERKINS OF BELZONI MISSISSIPPI
WILL NVR DIE
Photo of Pinetop Perkins by Roy Adkins of Light + Glass Studio. The photograph was taken in Jackson, Mississippi, prior to Pinetop’s acceptance of the 2011 lifetime achievement award for excellence in the arts from Governor Haley Barbour.