From the book:

YOU'RE AN EASY KILL STANDING STILL
Urban Blues Poetry to defend your soul against the impendung domination of globalized indifference to personal emotions

PAGE 8

I hope you never know the blues the way I do
And as you're passing through
May the BLUES be good to you
OPEN STAGE TONIGHT

That's what the marquee said
Honestly
It's not my style, so trust me
I only stopped because of spontaneous curiosity
What the hell! Down some stairs into the darkness
Towards the light gently swaying from the corroding metal sign
Above the arched door way
GOD LOVES HOWLIN' AND SO SHOULD YOU

Ushered into a patient room expecting
Really not much more than what you'd find from any bourbon bar
Except this Preacher's stand
Front and centre of Love's Abandoned House Band
Under the spotlight/now occupied the moment had come
First guest of this electric banquet raised her voice and sang

Never meant to be a ramblin'
Life turned out this way
Wasn't born to sing the blues
My friend
Just came to me one day
Heard the highway callin'
Come on down the road
So I took my best intentions
As far as we could go

And with this "life-is-a-train-wreck" introduction
The mission began its confessional procession
A litany of strangers played out their tortured stories
Through the rhythm of music: pain & healing/pain & healing

Was it in their eyes, was it in the air
This sense of urgency to expose their souls
For in the songs danced sweet salvation
From simple words of truth
The night passed on but not their conviction
And I felt their passion and my conversion
From a sign
GOD LOVES HOWLIN' AND SO SHOULD YOU

PAGE 44

I've just had that drink
Yiu know
The one that takes the edge off a tough day
Sets the mood
Dictates what's gonna roll out
And tonight, I feel good
I feel lucky
Yeah! Real lucky
And that's good
Cause it seems
Life is coming down hard on me
Like a persnal vendetta
A grudge that ain't over yet
So I'll take what ever I can get
And run with the luck
Like the way
A dark blue suit feels against a short red dress
I'M LOADED MAN!
Not with alcohol
Money
And not that rich crap
That drowns you in Wall Street paranoia
Over Consumer Price Indexes and Government Long-term Debt
Comfort
Real comfort
Enough to slide through life
Like an open G chord on a Fender Telecaster
Everybody's groovin'
And she
Wants to dance with me
I must be dreaming...

I think I better go now
Before I do get loaded
And not on money
Cause I feel the way
A dark blue suit feels against a short red dress
Yeah!
Real lucky

PAGE 78

Blame it on a James Dean movie you saw some years ago
Beside a friend of suspect beauty even with the lights down low
Can't remember why it thrilled you can't reveal the person's name
Said that Rebel Call was voodoo hit you like a Williams train
Just to set the record straight never was the Nashville kind
But given where you come and go every song will have its time
And that town was one of many bad memories you got through
Hanging onto one last candle and a suitcase full of blues

GETYOUR KICKS ON 66! an old billboard's last crusade
Echoes my g-g-generation the voice a ghost from the peace/love plague
Why the driver let you out before he turned around
Sticker slapped to that cadillac "Montgomery Bound"
Stranded there dressed like a pilgrim praying now it's not too late
Hitch a ride to California or at least another state
Of mind subliminal is not suggestion but it beats the naked truth
Hanging onto one last candle and a suitcase full of blues

Never got to see the sequel they burned that drive-in down
Anyway you sold your Eldorado to get away from town
Man that's a lot of money you took out on the road
But freedom's a greedy comrade takes its toll till you sell your soul
Then you stumble on the downside shuffle hard to dance in worn out shoes
When you're born to ramble every day you pay your dues
To walk the streets a perfect stranger buddied up to a dangerous view
Hanging onto one last candle and a suitcase full of blues

PAGE 107

We are no strangersto our failures, it's how we learn who we become...

Just walked out of a captive dream
In the middle of nothing
More than another SOS day
I was lost in cottonwoods
With no sense of balance
Until all was dark
It gave me wisdom
As I was searching for the right path forward
I could hear the light of freedom
Howlng like a wolf

Go back to the origins of pain
Do it right this time


YES!
I confess

Every word

ABSOLUTELY

Every

Word

Is stolen

From the
Dictionary

Go ahead
Judge me

But
Do not
Sentence
Me

I am a
Poet
Damn it!

I am a
Prisoner
To my
Conscience
Already

© Copyright Roger Dorey (November 21, 2008)

---

ROGER DOREY: Poet, songwriter, performer.

INTRO: I just want to stop! Rest for a moment. Even standing still, world pushes onward against my will. Where are we going, what's the hurry. I know this trip is on your dime, do we have to be there right on time. What if it's too late, would we miss our fate. Who did you take to the limit before we crossed the line... RD

Some people are born to the blues
Some peole fall in love with the blues
Some people are destined for the blues.

Even today, Roger Dorey is uncomfortable being labelled a Blues musician; he would say he is a long way from deserving this "storied" title. In confession, Blues was not his first love nor is it his only love. But the Blues is persistent and for Roger Dorey, destiny was to answer its calling.

He has a keen sense of its past and place in our every day lives and its need to adapt to the future. In life's journey, he has "earned" many of the requisite scars.

If he has a gift for the music, this is a humble honour. It is a privilege and duty to be a BLUES performer, not only out of respect for those who made it the conscience of our souls but also as a responsibility to those who come to experience and enjoy this thing called the Blues.

Roger Dorey is going to get your attention. The man at the microphone starts playing that guitar, singing and reciting those lines, and it all goes right to where you need it and you don't want to be anywhere else at that moment. Dorey's content and performance come without ornamentation. It's basic, it's real and it's relevant. And we don't get enough of that these days. R.D. Roy POET/AUTHOR, THREE CITIES.

Roger Dorey dreams of a better world, and he's not afraid to use his art to poke through the injustices in this one. He pays attention to rampant globalization and its fallout to the abuses of power. Roger's art is political and it matters, he puts words and music together in ways that command our ears — a troubadour for our times. Jeanette Lynes POET/AUTHOR IT'S HARD BEING QUEEN: The Dusty Springfield Poems.

One talented guy! I am very impressed with Mr. Dorey and his talent to put his feelings about the blues into verse. His thoughts about trials and tribulations are expressed quite clearly for any blues afficionado... in words or music to enjoy. Wayne Vermette RADIO DJ THE BLUES PROJECT CFRC 101.9fm