Fort Worth and Dallas Blues

This week I finished reading leadbelly by the poet Tyehimba Jess, which I bought at Deep Vellum books in Dallas. The fact that Leadbelly actually lived in the Commerce Street building now occupied by Deep Vellum made the purchase impossible to resist.

This collection is quite impressive, and Jess clearly has a virtuosic command of language. One of my favorite poems in the book, which is part of The National Poetry Series, was written through the eyes of Leadbelly's Stella guitar. Here is a stanza from "mistress stella speaks":

you think he is master of all
my twelve tongues, spreading notes
thick as a starless night, strangling spine
till my voice is a jungle of chords

And for your listening pleasure, here is Leadbelly playing "Fort Worth and Dallas Blues":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCdg35Jp0eE