A.E. Stallings
(1968- )
Triolet on a Line Apocryphally Attributed to Martin Luther
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night,
The swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes?
Does he hum them to while away sad afternoons
And the long, lonesome Sundays? Or sing them for spite?
Why should the Devil get all the good tunes,
The booze and the neon and Saturday night?
The poem seems to be saying that some of the most intoxicatingly intimate moments in life – the swaying in darkness, the lovers like spoons – have unfortunately become identified as sinful. Maybe they need to be reclaimed and relabeled? Some things that happen on boozy, neon-lit Saturday nights are just fine.
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