Day 624 – Woody’s guitar

Today is Day 624 of the daily poems.   It brings us guitar work from our poet Derek Adams, and Woody Guthrie’s salient message …

Woody’s guitar

Frets worn concave, indented
by the years
by the hammering
of strings and fingers
on the mahogany neck,
polished smooth 
by soft notes and hard songs.

The spruce sound box
its yellowing varnish
wears the crazing
of extremes, on it you can read:
Californian heat waves, 
New York winters,
and white letters
painted on with a bold hand
‘THIS MACHINE KILLS FascIsts’.

Derek Adams
First published in Read The Music, 2004