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| Photograph by Brian Castagne |
Dark.
Damp smells
of fermenting respite
linger: bake for 12 hours
then cool with street air and Muni smoke
before serving.
Booths and high tables wiped clean
walls coated thick with sound
and a dance floor polished smooth
by 30 years of swing.
Clean and ready for
3 afternoon street irregulars (not clean but ready)
and a confused tourist
with a map on his phone.
***
The calm before your shift
downstairs - STAFF ONLY
a kitchen - long cold
with a small booth and table
and toy bongos from the 60s
PLEASE KEEP THIS AREA CLEAN!
Mystery closets
dark like grandma’s basement
mic stands and cords
dumped in a hurried heap
the house drum kit
sleeps here.
***
Mournful troubadours
practice the ancient folk art
crafting songs that skip like
stones across your drink only to
sink and stare back at you
from the bottom of your glass
get one free beer and tip jar change
to go searching for yerba buena and make way
for the rising tide.
***
Fog from Ocean Beach begins its climb
over rock-a-billy surf rocks on its way
across the handle through the buena vista
chilling the cosmopolitan swingers and cottontails
at the street scene to be seen where
the Gentleman Door Man - long overcoat
parts the sea of alley cats and skillet lickers
rhumba bums and jukebox charlies
so musicians can go to work where
“all proceeds go to the musicians.”
***
Soul Church
where parishioners howl divine
uncountable
how much B3 salvation
was cooked here (1 million served?!)
how many demons exorcised
how many souls saved
with music of the world
in this americano social club
a communal place of
sacraments and psalms
love, sweat, and beer
when the service ends
“You don’t have to go home
but you can’t stay here!”
***
Haight Street claims the fog
a wilde wind that thanks
all hepcat singles and royal deuces
for coming with a sobering kiss
as they wait for gig workers
to shuttle them home
to bed, where the music in their ears
will play them to sleep
the soundtrack to a sad reality,
eventually
all things must go
Dark.
-Dedicated with appreciation to Sarah Wilde and the staff of Club Deluxe, San Francisco
Note: I am sad to report that last minute negotiations between the club owner and the landlord were unsuccessful in keeping the Club Deluxe open for business.
Ken Owen Van Niddy Press
August 2022
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| Ken Owen at Club Deluxe, San Francisco, photograph by Sarah Wilde |
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