ALI’S INSISTENCE

It was funny
when Ali would sing,
“Do you wanna get fucky?”
when he meant to say “funky.”
His English wasn’t great,
but his mastery of the rock idiom
was pretty impressive.

So we laughed along
as he said silly words
and he exploded on the stage,
commanding us to dance
to his illiterate tune.

We did want to get “fucky”
at Ali’s insistence.
We moved and swayed
and sweated
to his guitar.

He killed us quickly
with his nimble fingers
and incomprehensible songs.

We enjoyed Ali’s shows
and his accidental demeanor.
We treasured him locally
until
he took English lessons
and fixed his pronunciation
and then
he was like everyone else.

Close sesame.