Celebrity

I met you one time,Johnny Cash.I was the one in the robin’s-egg blue maskthreading a lineto the left anterior descendingof your heart. Your drummer told ushow your chest was caught in a giant vise,van hurtling down an Interstate,how that booming baritone of yourscould barely croak out “hospital.” Did you hearevery mask and gown in the roomlet out a cheer,when the plugged-up pipedeep in your heartflowed free?That wasn’t applause for a top-ten vocalist,nor for the fingersthat coiled the snake so expertly.No, that was a cheer for life. You sent us each a country ham.Other days we weren’t so lucky.