Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2024.
Billy Sherrill BMI Icon, poem by Dr. Arthur Broomfield.
Billy Sherrill BMI Icon
The girl with the tear
in her voice,
knocked down
by a day’s traipse,
from one Nashville
good luck with that
grunt out of a Stetson hat,
to the next,
happens before your desk.
Her half-whispered sigh,
no one is listening to me,
gets her through a couple of songs.
It’s your here and now.
A drag from your cigar,
your eyes meet, full-on.
I’m listening, you say.
Martina McBride sings
Till I can make it on my own.
You’re backed by a humming duet.
The older one, blonde, dyed hair,
the one who knows the score,
nudges you, whispers grace notes as she
spot checks this and that celebrity:
the one who stayed home, his guitar needs strings,
the ones who turned up to honour you.
The bells that ring.
You, tuned up to the beat
of your bricks and mortar,
Soft pedal till she fades out.
Your index fingers strum
in tempo, the left to the left,
the right to the right.
We get the optics
as you clear the tears,
from the ducts
behind your specs,
that sometimes bother you.
© Dr Arthur Broomfield
Dr Arthur Broomfield is a poet, short story writer and Beckett scholar from County Laois, Ireland. He is the author of nine books, including five poetry collections the latest being At Home in Ireland. New and selected poems. His works have been published in Irish, UK, USA , South American, Indian and European journals.