Tall Tale Teller (in tribute to Minton Sparks)
by Jason Tomlinson
On the shoulders of so many she makes her stand today
she towers to such a height that none of us can look away
because the beauty in the familiar significance we see
reminds us of people and places where we used to be
perhaps a different town perhaps a different name
but her stories serve to remind us that we are mostly the same
and though she acknowledges dysfunction and pain
bullies and bad guys driving us insane
it yields encouragement just to think
and remember with a smile and a wink
or perhaps a tear silently shed
at the depth of the the things she just said
and what she’s lived and what she sings
it’s more than just what one moment brings
more than these words in metered rhyme
more than even just her lifetime
but the living and the dead speak through her verses
and through tales of humor of blessings of curses
a richness is discovered in the wonder that is shown
villains and cheaters though we be we are never alone
Bring Back the Poetry 