B Grade Blues

greg · Post by **greg** » Sat Dec 14, 2002 8:33 am

Some things are too remote
Some things are too far above
If your love be a pinnacle
Then I have slid from its plinth
And if your love be a miracle
It’s been bent through a prism
And missed me by an inch

You are a monster
You don’t have horns or fins or scales
Your claws don’t tear my flesh
You’re just a rubber B-Grade monster, baby
You’re so low budget and brash

And I used to love watching you after midnight
In all that boozy monochrome
The lights were dim
The smoke was thin…
And we were all alone

But something came unstuck
Something went awry
And it turned out to be my last trump
Thinking I had you in my spotlight
When it was really you who had me in your swamp

Yeah, down deep in that swamp, baby
Didn’t we have ourselves a time
Living in our little love shack
You broke my back…
Ah, but you could not break my spine

You are a monster
You don’t have horns or fins or scales
Your claws can’t rip out my heart
You’re just a rubber B-Grade monster, baby
And I should have known it from the start!

greg

George.Wright · Post by **George.Wright** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 4:49 am

Nice makings of a song, Greg.....................sung by leonard.
I like it.
Georges

greg · Post by **greg** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 7:49 am

Ahhh... if only, Georges...that would be

greg

Vesuvius · Post by **Vesuvius** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 9:18 am

I love "B" horror movies too. Did "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" inspire this magnificent poem?

greg · Post by **greg** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 9:41 am

Kind of. I too, am a big fan of all those old B horror/creature movies...

But it's based on a real relationship I had... living with a redhead in an old fishing shack. She had a very mean temper...

I just kind of borrowed the creature thing as a kind of metaphor. I think I had in mind that it should be a song all along, with the first (italicized) part maybe spoken before going into a big blues riff. Unfortunately, I don't have a musical bone in my body... I'd have trouble tapping a tambourine in time... and my voice has been described as Tom Waits with a sore throat...

greg

Vesuvius · Post by **Vesuvius** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 10:07 am

A blue's riff combined with a "creature". That would be really something.

thatguy · Post by **thatguy** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 12:01 pm

someone sounds bitter...
the whole b film monster thing is, uh, original. yeah, that's it.

greg · Post by **greg** » Sun Dec 15, 2002 12:33 pm

Never claimed it was an original idea... though off the top of my head, I can only think of one other who used a similar theme in a poem - John Cooper Clark with "(I Married a) Monster From Outer Space".

As for being bitter... well, if that is how it reads to you, so be it. It was meant to be a bit of self-depracating fun.

That's the thing though, isn't it?... more often than not, meaning is in the reading more than the writing...

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 7:41 am

Great bluesy poem. Ever read Langston Hughes? He created some of the best blues poem on the planet (if not the best). Ahhh, and ya lived to tell about it. Nice poem. Laurie

greg · Post by **greg** » Mon Dec 16, 2002 12:50 pm

Never heard of Langston, but I'll check him out.

Thanks, Laura

Vesuvius · Post by **Vesuvius** » Tue Dec 17, 2002 5:21 am

I thought the poem was very original. And not bitter at all. It shows a sense of humor. Sadly lacking in many people.