TIME TRAVELING BLUES Bradley Mason Hamlin Everything I knew about feeling blue real deep dark navy blue the kind of feeling that centers inside you works its way up round your skeleton and through your eyes that kind of blue that attacks the self when the self suffers the shakes of loss and losing and in general: being lost the loss of house and home the job or a real life naked lover but the worst blue is the loss of a loved one to the spirit world while they’re hanging out there you’re stuck here lost losing loser with the bills and the annoying robot people and the world tastes like poison and open your mouth to scream but only exhale monster sobbing and whiskey won’t help and BB King won’t help and Frank Sinatra won’t help and Ma Rainey won’t help and Chet Baker ain’t helping either … but John Lee creeps on through as I switch to gin Hooker’s moanin and the world blurry because I’m drunk off ass and there’s saltwater in my eyes but somewhere inside I’m moving to a beat past a graveyard okay we’ll get through it into the future when I see you again. Bradley Mason Hamlin