Not Tonight, No Not Tonight Pantoum

By Albert DeGenova

after Jack Kerouac’s Mexico City Blues, with a nod to Robert Frost

we green imageries of bush and tree

are like your poems of forgiven sins

all risen from a mystery

and this is where truth begins

like your poems of forgiven sins

the pencil cuts a path of blue

and this is where the truth begins

no master’s trick to change the hue

the pencil cuts a path of blue

old buddy ain’t you gonna stand by me

no master’s trick to change the hue

(didn’t we say I’d die under a lonesome tree)

old buddy ain’t you gonna stand by me

let’s watch the sun burn up the night

(didn’t we say I’d die under a lonesome tree)

but not tonight, no not tonight

let’s watch the sun burn up the night

I’ve got miles to go before I sleep

not tonight, no not tonight

mine are no small promises to keep

I’ve got miles to go before I sleep

words find the beat, begin to dance

mine are no small promises to keep

unlikely muse let truth have its chance

words find the beat, begin to dance

and like you risen from a mystery

unlikely muse let truth have its chance

we green imageries of bush and tree