photo by Alex Lear

When_You_Said_You_Loved_Me.mp3

when you said you loved me

what did you do with it

after you didn’t anymore

after the rain of love dried

after laughs

after baths

after toast & watermelon

after cups of water in the night

after morning smiles & phone calls

i know what i did with mine

i have a wall of pain painted

  nigerian indigo,

  created lyrics for a howlin’ wolf,

  fashioned a mask of brown sadness,

  & in a midnight hour

  buried love’s corpse quietly 

  watching dry eyed 

  as the heart-red crypt slipped 

  peacefully deep into 

  the sea of my experiences

  where the brackish-green, obsidian 

  sealed sepulcher shall sleep 

  untroubled by resurrection attempts

when you said you loved me

i never thought of it in the past tense

what did you do with it

after you didn’t anymore

___________________

Kalamu ya Salaam – vocals

Stephan Richter – clarinet

Wolfi Schlick – reeds

Frank Bruckner – guitar

Mathis Mayer – cello

Georg Janker – bass

Michael Heilrath – bass

Roland HH Biswurm – drums

Recorded: June 14, 1998 – “ETA Theatre” Munich, Germany

—kalamu ya salaam