minstrels

Minstrels

On a dirt mound
a thin artist and his bearded friend
pick and strum in merriment
a mandolin and guitar.

Idly strewn at feet
six empty quarts of Colt 45
lay dispensed of their coal
peppered with cigarette butts

So these minstrels
labor like dark angels
fondling and choking out songs
chasing melodies
into dissonance till
the sour tune burns
into celebration and upheaval
filling the air
with its missing piece