Poetic Contexts

[kevin wooldridge]

Subterranean Homesick Blues

There's a Bob Dylan movie from 1965
where he stands in an alley
holding up signs.
Just behind the Savoy Hotel in London
'Basement'
'Medicine'
'Pavement'
'Government'
Subterranean Homesick Blues.
This is also the song
that contains the line
'You don't need a weatherman
to know which way the wind blows'
Or as the sign says
'Wind Blows'

I had a site in the late 1990s
very close to the Savoy
and I often walked
fast past
the alley where Dylan stood
flicking through signs.
I had my own agenda
at the time,
and if I'd had the energy
to hold up signs
they would have said
'Stratigraphy'
'Seriation'
'Samples'
'Finds'
Subterranean
Archaeology
Excavation
Blues
'You don't need an archaeological consultant
to know which way
The wind blows'
Or as the sign says
'Blow job'

Bob sings:
'Oh get born,
Keep warm,
Short pants,
Romance
Learn to dance,
Get dressed,
Get blessed,
Try to be a success
Please her,
Please him,
Buy gifts,
Don't steal,
Don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift'

What!!
I guess I must be homesick
cos now I've done
all of them.




(Read the poem now see the original video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOWgPHIZeoE