my singer-songwriter friend charlie sang

by Deron Eckert

Lou Reed’s “Last Great American Whale”

every single night he got drunk for a good year,

and Charlie drank heavily nearly every single night

that year, which I must have, too, since I was mostly

single and out enough to know Charlie was out about

every night. Charlie drank so much he was honored

with the nickname “The Red Stripe Demon.”

When Charlie wasn’t at the bar serving Red Stripe,

he drank Bud Heavy, and when he didn’t drink,

he drank Coca Cola. Something about red and white

labels appealed to Charlie. When he wasn’t at the bar

singing his songs, or Lou’s lengthy solo on repeat,

Charlie was studying poetry with Maurice Manning

right down the street at Transylvania University—

I know what you are guessing, and you guessed right:

Transy’s mascot is a bat. Oddly enough, Transy students are

Pioneers, not unlike Lou who brought poetry into music

after Lou studied the rules of verse with Delmore Schwartz,

another layabout drunk who somehow managed to write

a masterpiece or two despite living underneath the bottle,

which is the title of another, more fitting Lou song

Charlie could have sang that year if he weren’t so drunk

and hung up on splitting a mountain in two, which is

an admittedly funny line when you’re drunk with a friend

who sees you as truly original—the best songwriter since

Ryan Davis from up the road and David Berman from before,

who was the closest we’ve got to Lou and his revered Delmore

rolled into one too great to have ever lasted, but, my God,

talk about the last of a dying, not yet dead, breed of greatness

fighting to stay afloat just to sing the songs they adore.

Photo of Deron Eckert

BIO: Deron Eckert is a Pushcart-nominated poet and writer who lives in Lexington, Kentucky. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Appalachian Review, Atlanta Review, Wild Roof Journal, Blue Mountain Review, Rattle, Stanchion, The Fourth River, and elsewhere. He can be found on Instagram at deroneckert.