The Blue Throat of Day Poem by Catfish McDaris

Coltrane in the Van Gogh rain,
"Hey Fish, what you working on?"
my boss, Big Joe Cocomo asked
he was from Texas, my black pals

At work loved me being a writer,
I showed my latest to Joe, he said,
"You like Trane?" I nodded yes
"What are your favorite songs he

Plays?" "Lazy Bird and The Night
Has a Thousand Eyes" "You must
have taken beaucoup acid, back in
the day? Who's your sketch of?"

"Vincent Willem van Gogh" "Not
bad kid" we both laughed, since I
was twice his age, back to Gauguin,
he lopped off Vincent's ear with his

Sword during an argument, they
agreed to say it was self-mutilation,
to keep Gauguin out of prison, van
Gogh never recovered his rationality.