An Elegy for Kinky Friedman

Herman Sutter

July 21, 2024

The way I like to tell it

is this:

Jesus walks into a bar

looking for a rabbi

a presbyter or a priest

and all he found

was Kinky—grinning 

at the jukebox 

last quarter already

dropped into the slot

wondering what

Leadbelly song

the Son of God 

would like to hear first

and wondering 

if maybe tonight 

such weariness 

might take off his sandals

pull on some boots

and dance in the sawdust

with someone like me

Herman Sutter (award-winning poet/essayist) is the author of Stations (Wiseblood Books), and The World Before Grace (Wings Press), and “The Sorrowful Mystery of Racism,” St. Anthony Messenger. His work appears in: The Perch (Yale University), The Langdon Review, Benedict XVI Institute, Touchstone, i.e., The Merton Journal, as well as: Texas Poetry Calendar (2021) & By the Light of a Neon Moon (Madville Press, 2019). He received the 2021 Best Essay award from the CMA. His recent manuscript A Theology of Need was long listed for the Sexton prize.

 As a member of the literary/comedy group, The Writer Guys, he opened for Kinky Friedman at Rockefellers (in 1988).