“One of my former band members, who was with me in the band in the 1960’s, that inspired this poem from 2011, came to visit me a couple months ago. I had written a haibun at the time in his honor, which I shared here on dVerse. That haibun was inspired by this original poem. I just learned that he died Monday in Geneva, Switzerland. In his memory I am sharing this original poem today, August 22, 2019.”
the gear’s broke down and stowed
now here we sit
with smuggled single malt
and the crusty sunrise special
me and my bles-sed band
bliss’d out from giggin’
bleary-eyed and blasted
mixin’ with fellow players
who’ve now
laid down their last licks
for this night
among willing groupies
the loud hangers on
and my sad friend Joey
just back from Viet Nam
we’re sittin’ and chattin’
with the steel-heart working girls
and sweet soul-bruised painted strippers
they love us ‘cause we’re brothers
in this family of the night
all in the flesh parade
of burnt drink slingers
and tired cocktail mules
hipsters grifters drifters
and slick gamblers
from behind the sealed doors
of those private upstairs rooms
swell perfumed boys
and sisters of the leather
queens and trannies
pimps pushers and the cops
huddled stark as morgue mates
hidin’ from those cruel first rays
like a pack of squandered vampires
ready to scurry off
to well-curtained rooms
or other dark holes of despair
it’s time to make that final score
whatever gets you through
‘till sundown strikes up the band again
I’ll tell ya
ain’t this show biz grand
it’s cirque du morning madness
all sneakin’ up on breakfast
rob kistner © 4/19/11
____________________________
This photo below put me in mind of the 60’s when my band played the all-night R&B clubs in Newport Ky — the ‘wild’ night-world just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. It sparked this poem.
Open Link Night #249
Quite a cast of characters of the night. Like how you bring the poem to a close.
Thank you Maureen! 🙂
A great “family of the night” portrait. I like how such different people stick together, have something in common. Really enjoyed it.
Glad you did Mr. Walker, thank you!
What an exciting life you’ve led Rob! I like it when you talk about the sixties!
Unique times Andy. 🙂
You make this people (including yourself) come to life in this poem. How interesting and I can see that you would become a kind of family.
Thank you Judy.
Night live and its inhabitants well evoked. Very enjoyable Magpie.
Thank you Lucy.
great poem – I liked the morgue mates
sorry I found the black very hard to deal with
There was no reference to black Isabel, I’m confused… 😐
Thanks Isabel!
this has compelling detail that evokes that “family of the night” very nicely– a brave collision with the prompt, which put me off…xj
Glad it resonated for you jenne.
What an interesting life you have led, Rob. Some wonderful images in this poem, you make it all very vivid.
While I was living my life Viv, the day to day was just that for me, the day to day — as dictated by the circumstances. Not all of which were my choice, or to my liking — some even horrible. But in retrospect, I do not regret the path — it was, and still is, interesting… 🙂
Rob, I’ve just realised what Isabel was saying: it is the black background that’s difficult to deal with and I echo that. I come here for your wonderful poetry and my eyes suffer for it!
I’m sorry Viv, but you have probably realized by now that I am an artist, as well as a writer/poet. The design of my blog very much satisfies my artistic nature. I appreciate your visits, and your tolerance of my ‘artsy’ quirks… 🙂 In truth, perhaps because of how my diabetes affects my eyes, I personally find it much easier to read against the muted nature of a black background than the glaring essence of white. The large field of white assaults my eyes. I read using a Barnes & Nobel high-resolution “Nook Color” e-reader. I have the background set to black on this e-reader because it relaxes my eyes… I’m just an odd sort I suppose… 🙂
My kind of musical experience!!!!
Helen… 🙂
Okay, I just want to know this. When are you getting the band back together?
Well Tess, besides the fact we’re old farts, there are some other technical and geographical difficulties involved.
Frank, the piano player, died of aids. Jay, the guitarist is in Europe, last I heard. Bass player John, lives/lived out here on the left coast in San Francisco – and may have passed away. Not sure where J. Henry, the B3 player is. I still have a reasonable handle on my vocal chops and can play percussion, but my diabetes makes it hard for me to stand and be an effective lead singer — and, I live up here in the Pacific Northwest. Gene, the drummer, who was the baby of the group, still lives in Cincinnati working for Bell, and still plays part time.
José, one of the guitar players I worked with in a later band, still plays in Cincinnati in a band called Balderdash. Gene and José are the two I have kept somewhat in touch with — especially Gene. There are numerous other players I’ve gigged with through the years, in different bands — but we’ve fallen out of touch.
Now, aren’t you glad you asked…? 🙂
Everything works here – great piece.
Thank you Steve!
Wow, this is SO well written. The life in it, the lights, the imagery, senses, descriptions, how you picked up so many different yet similar characters….I could go on. This is truly impressive. An absolute pleasure to read!
Amy
I appreciate your enthusiasm Amy! 🙂
This could be entitled: In This Family Of The Night…what a great line. Fabulous job. Very creative and full of visual characters with impact. Hope I didn’t misspell anything…I cannot read a word I am writing…
Thank you Donna.
The club scene is so vivid. You’ve brought it to life.
Cool Irene! 🙂
This is a juicy piece, awesome! This is classic!
Wow jeanne — thank you!
There’s an old supper club up there somewhere on the river that is like sone beached cruise ship. I love the towns across the river that used to supply vice for their more virtuous sisters.
Glad you included the cops. They were always in Macks and Browns. (The Campus Grill had divinity school students, instead) I always did love that crazy time, not one or the other. Thanks for the reminder.
( like Viv, I have some difficulty with the black. It’s not quite as bad with the iPad, but usually when I want to read you it means copying into a text editor first)
Did not know you were part of that Cin-city scene Barbara — and yes, NoKY was the center of vice for the ‘hypocritical’, repressed, “Over-The-Rhine” city of Cincinnati. Oh man, it was wild in my era of the late 50’s and the 60’s in Newport KY. When I had my R&B group, Brothers Royal, we used to play at the ’till-5-AM Flamingo Club, Galaxy Club, and Ben Crafts Guys & Dolls.
Newport, with its strip clubs, gambling, drugs, prostitution, murder — was every bit as ‘extreme’ as Vegas was in the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s. Newport also had Glen Schmidt’s, The Yorkshire Club, the Hy-Dee-Ho Club, the Alibi Club, the Latin Quarter, Primrose Country Club, Pink Pussycat, and the Sportsman’s Club — to name a few.
The 5:00 AM breakfast scene I describe in “Sneakin’ Up On Breakfast” took place every morning at the all-night Gladiator Restaurant at Third and York in Newport, Kentucky. When all the clubs would shut down many of the ‘night characters’ congregated at The Gladiator. I was just a young catholic boy, playing music until the sun came up, and learning a hell-of-a-lot about life across the river from my nice, proper Cincy home.
As I migrated into playing rock in the late 60’s, 70’s, and early 80″s; the Newport scene was no longer all night, but the “head” club scene became prevalent in both NoKY and Cincinnati – though Cincy took the lead with clubs like Black Dome, Reflections, Ludlow Garage, Matrix, Bogarts, etc.
I loved playing music back then, based out of the Ohio River Valley. WILD TIMES…!!!
How vivid and exciting time of life the must have been!
It was Nicole… 🙂
Good atmosphere. Well written.
Thanks Trell!
Love the language and setting… vivid and real.
Thank you Laurie!
This is so lively! You write here about the life my son dreams will one day be his.
Thank you Erin, good luck to your son!
God, Rob, this took me back to the days when gigs lasted ’til two in the morning, then it was pack up the gear and off to breakfast. Nothing like eating 68 mg. of trans fats and then going to sleep! Ahhh, the crisp bacon, the slurred conversations, the real Bohemia of it all. I am right there with you. Thanks for the time travel… Amy
http://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/reflections-on-laundry/
Glad you enjoyed the trip Amy — and I trust you’re getting over whatever ‘malady’ had you down… 🙂
Not sneaking, but a parade!
Yes Deb, a parade of nocturnal characters, sneakin’ up from the ‘night’ side, to have breakfast as the last meal before sleep… 🙂
I enjioyed it Rob… I zoom your page to read … and find it comfortable.. thanks..
Thank you Ramesh — and yes, for those with bad vision, it is very easy to simply click to enlarge the page just as big as you want it… 🙂
‘Sneakin up on Breakfast’ is such a great term..and you certainly bring us all to the table with you..very evocative..and a great start to the day…Jae 🙂
Glad you liked it Jae.
This piece thumps and bumps
and shakes its ass, Rob,
written from the gut, and
rife with gems of recall from
the poet who was there. It
is like Raymond Chandler
meets Dashell Hammett for
a beer and a bump at the
Gladiator across the sticky
table from Larry Levi, where
even Scorsese could dream
of plots, and Paul Schrader
would bullshit with you until
dawn, where Ledbelly drops
in just before the sun and his
six string heralds the events
to come. I like the line
/steel-heart working girls/
for those ladies still stroll in
the subterranean streets midst
most of our souls.
I enjoyed experiencing this poem of mine through your eyes Glenn – especially because you “get it”… 😉
Great riff on this great peom Glenn
Yes Lona, Glenn really locked into the gist of my poem here in his wonderful comment 8 years ago. This is the period when he and I first connected through Tess Kincaid’s “Magpie Tales”. There was a unique energy around Tess’s site, the likes of which I had not encountered quite the same in the years before MT, nor the years since. Some really excellent poets contributed there. I personally really miss that vibe, and the freedom to write your heart through your personal style, that Tess had established. Today the prompt sites feel the pull to establish lots of parameters regarding contributions to their prompts. Tess understood the quality of the writers who contributed on her site – so she posted wonderful visual prompts, and we all just riffed freely. I was publishing my “Writer’s Island” prompt site in the same “open” spirit during those years. We had both been influenced by Dana Guthrie’s “Poetry Thursday” prompt site, which morphed into “Read Write Poem” prompt site.
Wow, what a wonderfully rich trip back, with a very human cast of characters. The sad Viet Nam vet, the “sweet, soul-bruised painted strippers”……..all “sneakin’ up on breakfast”. This was a richly enjoyable read.
Wow, thank you Sherry!
I really like the idea of sneaking up on breakfast and enjoying the late night camaraderie…although I could never manage that. I’m an early riser. Anyway, it was a great poem with a lot of cool images, not the least of which was that diner.
Glad this worked for you Lilibeth!
Your words are so visual I felt like I was sitting in the next booth. Just great.
Thank you Teri!
I enjoyed all the characters….the “soul-bruised” in their infinite variations.
Thanks Wendy?
What a great way to remember the past and how it connected to the haibun I read a while ago. It sounds like a good thing that you had the chance to reconnect before it was too late.
Enjoyed seeing some familiar faces I have met on dVerse…
Thank you Björn. Pleased you enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
I like how your first stanza sets the tone and the part about scurrying away to the darkness to avoid the daylight. Sounds like you and your buddy lived the kind of lifestyle you can reminisce about with affection and laughter for a long time. Oh the stories I’m sure you and he talked about when he was there to visit you. Again I’m sorry for your loss, Rob.
Thank you Lisa!
A wonderful trip to the wild side, Rob. Took me back to my own wild days in the Miami of the late 50’s, dancing until 4 a.m., sneaking up on breakfast, popping a Benzedrine from the Doc’s sample drawer at work to keep me awake. (By the way, I love the black background!)
Thank you Bev! You would certainly have been most welcome at our early-AM breakfast table back then… 🙂
It was wild times back in the day, and there are a dwindling number of us who can tell it in all its authenticity. After that it all gets distorted by a younger set who weren’t there and want to put their own spin on it. I already see this happening with Woodstock. Thanks for keeping it real. This is a great tribute!
You are welcome Tim, and thank you!
Great poem . An enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Arcadia.
One of your best Rob, life popping and thumping. And Breakfast, the tie that binds, the family meal. The word “Tranny” to today’s ears hits me a tad tender- it is usually a term of derision now, but the girls back then owned the term proudly, and I respect the difficulties they endured, but I would not use the term today, since chances are it is now ususally yelled out as an insult. I feel only love bopping through your poem for all of this family of yours back then. This poem really rocks.
Thank you Lona, I appreciate you kind and genuine words. I eliminated that term from my vocabulary when sadly it did grow toxic — but it was not toxic among my transvestite friends in my circles in the 60’s. My band was favored by their community back then, and they embraced us inclusively. Two of my band members were gay, and one of their partners was a beautiful transvestite. My band played a number of times at the “Downstairs Club”, a club at which he performed regularly in drag. My band loved playing there because we were shown such genuine kindness and acceptance. As a band, and in our daily lives, we were used to being frequently derided, even accosted as “freaks” in the 60’s, because of our extremely long hair, and flamboyant dress. Believe it or not, we lived what also was considered a really fringe lifestyle in the deep Midwest in those days. I wanted the original poem to reflect authenticity when I wrote it in 2011 — and posted the original poem today in memory of a friend, and fellow warrior of the 60’s. It was full of love and deeply fond memories when I wrote it, and still represents the same for me today.
So sad for your loss of such a colorful friend and band mate! Those were the days… I can picture all of the people you paint coming and going and eating Night Breakfast just before dawn. I am sure you had some really interesting conversations.
Sending you Peace and Love, Rob!!
Thank you very much Dwight. Irreplaceable memories for me.
Rob – this is surely one of your very best – good times remembered and a good friend recalled in the grittiest of language and the most vivid of vignettes.
Your loss is deeply felt – such heartbreaks make us
Thank you Laura. It was written from the heart.
I agree with Lona, Rob, one of your best, a definite Springsteen feel to it, with it’s setting and cast of characters…JIM
Thank you Jim, glad you enjoyed this. Writing truth is always effective… 🙂
It took some time but I read your poem as well as every comment. Eight years have passed since you first put this out there.
If I had read this 8 years ago, I would have felt excitement as it relates to your travels and amused by your experiences.
Today though, in light of your friends passing, I do not feel either of those. I read your poem through the “eyes” of a lost Era. It’s a melancholy memory and though it’s vivd and bright and full of a life well lived, it is fringed with that “If I could go back there” feeling some memories bring.
I will read this many more times.
P. S. I don’t know if anyone has said anything lately, but I love the black background. It makes me eyes happy. Have you considered a dark gray for people who find it difficult to see? Maybe that’s the best of both worlds. Just a thought for whatever it’s worth.
Thank you Lyn for your gracious comments. They are wonderful memories, and full of the love I felt for all my friends and bandmates — but it would certainly be wonderful to go back to those times for maybe a month. All my friends and my bandmates would still be alive, and I would be in peak physical and vocal condition. I have lost 5 very good friends and 4 bandmates over the years. Each loss was sad, and seemed to take a bit of me each time. I have had 4 heart attacks, and my heart actually stopped in April of 2017, but I was already in the hospital recovering from an angioplasty heart operation — so I was saved with an urgent pacemaker implantation. One current joy if the fact that I can still sing going on 73 now, perhaps even with better quality, though not with the duration I did back then. I sing constantly, but only for my own pleasure. BTW those comments from 8 years ago were related to the fact that the background behind the text was pure black. It has since been changed to a dark charcoal grey. If you scroll down far enough you will see the pure black. Thanks for visiting Lyn, and for your thoughtful comments. Please do come back and explore.
sounds like good times!
It was wonderful Kerfe!
This is so alive, oozing with descriptiveness and word choices that make it a treat to read aloud. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.
Thank you Mish! 🙂
This gave me such a feel for that culture and time, not that far back–told with sensitivity and poignancy. This really got to me:
we’re sittin’ and chattin’
with the steel-heart working girls
and sweet soul-bruised painted strippers
they love us ‘cause we’re brothers
in this family of the night
I am glad this piece resonated for you Victoria. It offers a look into, whatwas for me, a most magical period of my life.