Best Tonks Poems

He wrote the lyrics to the songs
a thousand singers sing.
He stood alone at life’s crossroads
and felt the church bells ring.

He taught me how the feelings feel
he helped me hear the sound.
Of the bottom of a bottle
from Sunday morning coming down.

With pockets full of empty
not so...

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I wait in all the crummy
little barrooms of the soul.
I look about and sniff the air,
drink, and wait.
In the demi-world of honky-tonks,
which vie against night's
inner gloom, beneath mantles
of thick smoke, pinches,
slurred speech and propositions,
I leer drunkenly about,
swimming in the haze
of my heebie-jeebies.
I wait.
After the smoke...

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Everybody, and his brother
Stopped in, at one time, or another
Not for the greasy hash browns
Or the coffee, with a half a cup, of grounds
They weren't there for Ruby or Ruth
Whose numbers were in the phone booth
At night when the honky tonks closed down
It was the...

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When cowboys sprawl 'round the camp fire after the days work is done,
They strum guitars and tootle harmonicas and sing to have fun.
Real cowboys don't sing Honky-Tonk or She Done Me Wrong stuff.
They leave that to rhinestone cowboys, considerin' it to be so much fluff!

Real...

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Every time I turn the radio on I hear a feller's plaintive song,
About his achin' heart and how his woman done him wrong!
How they once held each other close beneath the harvest moon;
Now, he sits alone caressin' a beer at Cudahey's Diner and Saloon!

He found...

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holler say what
yo yo yo
all the saint over there rise on up
git on up
everybody else where
git on up hold them arms, hand and eyes up toward the heavens
things gonna git better 
(when you)
Pray
(when you)
Praise so. . .
git yo praize onz git yo praize onz
praise up...

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Hung up my saddle and its reins
Now I'll count the losses and gains
My reputation's got some stains
I've still got Texas in my veins
 
I got old with some aches and pains
My knees creak whenever it rains
I know horses from tails to manes
I know each brand...

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If sixty years before in my place of birth
had I been living in that Texas town Fort Worth.
With long horn steers moving to and fro
what would I have done, where would I go?
Herding cattle or breaking broncs
or gambling cards in honky-tonks.
Getting drunk and in gunfights...

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How I wished, free flow of wheels
No words to tell , "how it feels".
When vehicles swish
Well, well, well!
This is what I relish.

How I missed, the rumble and rush
Noisy Wide tyres! are my first crush
Fizzing of tyre
Well, well, well!
My Heart's on Fire.

How I mixed the soundtracks
Made...

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A gaggle of geese in the Bronx
Were confused by competing honks
With traffic so slow
There's not much on show
'cept gander at the honky tonks...

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1908
Last day at school for me
Some thirteen years Ive had
And Im going to be a farm hand
Just like me dear old Dad

Here now its Mr Peters
A silence falls over the class
'Registration' he says as he does every day
I am Williams and always called last

Boys first...

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Cowboys wear their hearts on their sleeve
They sing in honky tonks and dive bars,
Drink their memories down, they spend their weekends in a bar where they can be themselves, wating to have their spirits glisten. 
Everyone has problems, a country music singer from Oklahoma walks...

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VI.	I’ve played in bars and the honky tonks.  I’ve been there unfortunately.  But 
Jesus came into my life, now the neon lights says I am free.

CH.	I quit playin’ country cause now I’m saved.  Instead of bars, I’m in church, I’ll 
never thirst...

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This old train station's lonesome
But it's got a hold on me
I was born to be a rider
Of these rails that carry me
Lots of boxcars been my motel room
And honky tonks my home
It's in my blood to wander
Yeah it's in my soul to roam

I have seen...

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I'm a cowboy some call me redneck, I'm a lover and a fighter, I  try not to do no one wrong, I treat women like ladies, I drink whiskey and I get crazy, I still cry to sad country songs,
I'm a sucker for the...

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