Long live rock and roll

A nerdy naïve kid in the sixties
memorizing math formulas  
and historical dates and trying  
to blend in with limestone  
and mortar walls hoping not  
to get his ass kicked after school.  
Home a shelter from the elements  
but no emotional nourishment  
looking up at the cracked pictures  
of Jesus and JFK on walls  
of pedestrian paint wondering
if heroes are even for real.
 
The cell of a shared bedroom  
started shedding sadness only  
when guitar licks weaved through  
the crackling on the AM radio  
with roustabout poetry sparking  
an education in matters crucial  
to lonesome kids stumbling through
darkened dreams, and rock and roll
lit the torch to a time where a man
can hold his own darling tight  
in the shadows with Chuck Berry  
keeping them dancing all night long.