Some lines for Amy Winehouse (in the rain)

by Gerald McCarthy

The first time I heard Mary Wells sing
The one who really loves you —

I was eighteen in a place called Tam Ky
where it rained for two months straight.

I learned how to dance there
in the rain, listening to soul music

trying to get my shoulders into it.
Soul brothers taught me — singing back up

doing the dap, the drop down, dancing
together. Now your voice brings back that fall

the songs I learned — too young to know
their lyrics would last, like loss & longing.

There’s that & the rain today in the wild roses
a summer rain this time & I wake up alone —