I’m thinking the Kinks,
not Van Halen.
Single-tasking,
without question.
Son Volt before Wilco.
Uncle Tupelo before everything,
of course. Ordinary events
happen in extraordinary ways
is not a slogan
to memorize
over coffee
while reading
about Johnny Thunderbolt’s
interrupted window washing
before Johnny Thunders
got smeared in
a Lower East Side alley
during a downpour. Before
that Midwestern singer
taunted him with
Johnny’s gonna die.
In the aftermath,
I’m thinking Thomas Wolfe,
not Tom Wolfe.
And Woolf before any Wolfe—
of course.