Jimmy crack corn and set back some mash for his still

You give a solid half a chance, it'll seek its liquid form

That was Dean Martin's swizzle stick talking, not me

Ask Judy Garland's cigarette who was shooting the moon

Last night when Otis begged Barney for one more break

Gertrude Stein, Toasted Suzie's crazy about you

You give Whiskey River half a chance, girl, it'll drown you

Oh Danny Boy, everywhere last call is calling you still

Yes, Calamity Jane, your life's not been an ice cream break

But Huzzah! Jimmy Corn's got that liquid taking Jesus form

And Jesus, that Sultan of Swat sent some shots to the moon

That's straight from an old Foster Brooks bar stool, not me

That poem next door poured a bottle of Anne Sexton in me

I wonder, Babe Ruth, if Josh Gibson drank more than you

Dylan Thomas twit jug jug twit jug twit jug jug moon

That old drunk Joe McCarthy's finger's shaking still

Sestina, O Sestina, you come with Alabama in your form

Contents of moonshine and stock cars drove for broke

Jimmy Crack, mind the jars in the back don't break

And that was Robert Mitchum on Thunder Road, not me

Sestina, you give a still half a chance, it'll blow up a farm

And you keep on cheating the jar, your heart will tell on you

Hank drank fast and hard as Whiskey River's gone still

Now that Willie's all weed and moogoogaipan

Here's the thing, Sestina, you can't outdrink the moon

'Cause the moon's elastic and porous and it got no brake

Go ahead and check the box: bad heart and a liver to install

Them's good old boys drinking whiskey and rye, not me

I know this guy, Sestina, this guy's in love with you

Hey Jimmy Jar, put some more content in that form

Jackson Pollock's drip and splash is the content of his form

Dorothy Parker, you drank and died lonely as the moon

Did you know O'Toole and Burton wanted to wrassle you

Moon's a cell and the spotlight's looking like a prison break

That was Sinatra's 2 am tux busting out at Jilly's Saloon, not me

Singing bye bye cuckoo pie another round of gasoline stilly stool 

Give a hammer half a chance and form's a thing to break

Ah hell, Jimmy crack the shine of your best moon over me

Sestina, O Sestina, this guy's in love with you still

STEVE DAVENPORT received special mention for fiction in Pushcart Prize XXXV: Best of the Small Presses (2011) and was a notable mention in Best American Essays (2007). He is the author of two poetry collections: Uncontainable Noise (Pavement Saw P, 2006) and Overpass (Arsenic Lobster-Misty P, 2012).

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