Medicine Show (4): A Spell to Ward Off Banjos

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Dave Bonta
This entry is part 14 of 22 in the series Breakdown: The Banjo Poems

Fill a soup spoon with salt
& lower it into the Atlantic
singing: Dance, sailor,
dance with your captain,
your head’s too heavy,
your body’s too thin.
When the salt is gone
say in a loud voice
Are you thirsty now?
& wait for a gull to say Yes.
Walk backwards so
the incoming tide can’t follow
your footsteps home.

Repeat daily.
If banjos persist,
see a licensed hoodoo man.

Series Navigation← Banjo Origins (2): The Fifth StringThe Silent Banjo →

About Dave Bonta

Dave Bonta (bio) crowd-sources his problems by following his gut, which he shares with one quadrillion of his closest microbial friends --- a tight-knit, symbiotic community comprising some 500 different species of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa.
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10 Responses to Medicine Show (4): A Spell to Ward Off Banjos

  1. Clive Hicks-Jenkins says:
    March 3, 2010 at 7:01 am

    This is GREAT!!! I’ve been reciting it to get it properly memorised and in my head. But I can still hear the banjo music. I think it’s coming to get me!

    • Dave says:
      March 3, 2010 at 4:36 pm

      Wow, I’m glad you’re so enthusiastic about it! I was just writing it to amuse myself — not sure it would be anyone else’s cup of tea.

  2. Beth Lowe says:
    March 3, 2010 at 9:37 am

    Love this, Dave.

  3. dale says:
    March 3, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    Oo, man, this better work, because if it doesn’t those banjos are going to be pissed!

  4. Banjovi says:
    March 3, 2010 at 6:54 pm

    sigh…. it’s so hard to make friends

  5. James says:
    March 4, 2010 at 9:49 am

    This is fun; I like it. I love the idea of licensed magicians. Of course, now that I think of it I wonder if they do need licenses to perform in some states.