K.W. Peery
Mother Earth

The roots
of truth…
are just ten
arthritic fingers

Ticklin’ those ancient ivories
like a 1964 version
of some obscure
Memphis Slim
song—

Ya know
the kinda
crooked ole…
You done did
somebody wrong…

Bourbon
soaked
backstage
juke joint
sing along—

Where
Mother Earth
smokes her
long skinny
clove cigarettes…
in a neon soaked
corner booth…

While Lightnin’ taps
his shiny
two tone
wingtip…

And the
moment holds
invisible mean-
ing…
inside a
calloused n’
crippled
left hand

K.W. Perry is a prolific American songwriter and poet. He is most well known as a founding member of the Marshall/Perry Project. This collaborative produced four critically acclaimed studio albums from 2005 to present. Their songs are in regu- lar rotation in the United States, Germany, Serbia, Belgium, Norway, France, Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.