THE RETURN OF JIMI HENDRIX

I dreamed about Jimi Hendrix
he came back for one day
was born weeping out an egg the midwife said
and straightaway began to pray
with lifted head
He spent the early hours [bad word] with the morning stars
And then he came over to my house
where he tried out my guitar

He was young and black and beautiful
big eyed, perfect skinned
and he played my guitar like a lightning storm
like twirling feathers in the wind
He could make it sound like the end of the world
a train, the prow of a ship
He could squeeze it slow and masterful
like a secret kiss on lovers' lips

Together we strolled in sculptured gardens
passed a sleepy afternoon
Maids were darting back and forth
from a window came a violin tune
Angels dressed as nurses toyed with playing cards
Looters, [bad word] from prison filled the yard
yellow sun hung low and yawned and as it dipped
Jimi stood up straight, grinned
and shook his velvet hips

Calling himself "King Electric"
in the evening he went wild
played on a dozen stages in the clubs of New York
lit the city end to end
wired it up, fired it up
scarved, bejewelled, long legged, snake limbed,
athletic, driven, dangerous
He made all Manhattan shake
He made every street and sidewalk quake
His stratocaster caused the mighty Empire State to vibrate
His whammy bar caused shock-eyed punks from Hackensack and Yonkers
raised on speed-metal and rap to enter trance and levitate
He played "Purple Haze" in Pyramid
"Voodoo Chile" at Sin 
"Up From The Skies" and "Stone Free" in King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
He did a forty-two minute karmic rising future shock "Star Bangled Banner" in the back of CBGB'S
He stopped every clock in New York State
and every heart that heard him
and Time Itself was beaten and confused and fell lamblike under the spell of his fabulous
flashing fingers
He played an encore at The Bitter End
- a heartburst "Little Wing"
Even the waiters cried
and then we fell outside
and in the dusty dawn of Bleecker Street
a sweet rain fell
and Jimi died

Written: Manhattan July 1991
Appears: On "Dream Harder"