Tom Mandel, Frankie & Johnny

Frankie & Johnny, image by Irene Koronas

Frankie & Johnny

Frankie felt the darkness surround him as a child

Johnny flipped the light switch on & off & smiled

Frankie speaks out loud: ‘it’s coming on for night’

Johnny shapes a silence to fit around him tight

Frankie flies an all-day plane

Johnny rides the bullet train

Frankie sees the pharmacist shoot him for the flu

Johnny’s in a storefront to choose a new tattoo

Frankie’s head is shaking: ‘this is a mean old world’

Johnny reads a magazine while getting his hair re-curled

Frankie is strong in this and every room

Johnny spreads his arms to bring the temple doom

Frankie pound for pound turns things around

Johnny by the minute hammers on the ground

Frankie writes hexameter way inside his head

Johnny must bounce the ball right back where it led

Frankie sips a thermal cup

Johnny turns his sound-bar up

Frankie learns Talmud from what the rabbis wrote

Johnny with his palm up swears another oath

     While Frankie starts to rave

     Johnny just walks faster

     While Frankie frees a slave

     Johnny offs his master

     While Frankie dons a crown

     Johnny tears the next one down

     While Frankie irons his shirt

     Johnny dozes in dirt

     While Frankie files reports

     Johnny rinses shorts

     While Frankie plays the ball

     Johnny starts to stall

     While Frankie hoes what he reaps

     Johnny always plays for keeps

     While Frankie inhales a bowlful

     Johnny grows soulful

Frankie falls asleep

Johnny’s in too deep

Frankie sees a doctor to get his pressure read

Johnny turns the corner with black cat bones instead

Frankie courts bewilderment

Johnny knows just what was meant

Frankie polls his consciousness

Johnny answers less & less

Frankie sees the moments form

Johnny’s firmament is torn

Frankie loves to shout

Johnny’s all wore out

Frankie’s come too far

Johnny’s where you are

Frankie worries he’s been cursed

Johnny hollers‘do your worst!’

     Frankie refactors the future

     Johnny cooks up his past

     Frankie ignores any rupture

     Johnny bolts his repast

     Frankie is a rose
     Johnny’s made of plaster

     Frankie hearts what grows
     Johnny is a bastard

     Frankie evades disaster

     Johnny clicks his toes

     Frankie picks a stratocaster

     Johnny courts all woes

     Frankie holes up at home

     Johnny takes to the road

     Frankie authors a tome

     Johnny hefts one more load

Frankie and Johnny get in the car

Frankie and Johnny go too far

Frankie and Johnny wait for tomorrow

Frankie and Johnny don’t waste time on sorrow

Frankie and Johnny stare at the moon

Frankie and Johnny watch a cartoon

Frankie and Johnny under the sun

Frankie and Johnny under the gun

Frankie and Johnny start in a minute

Frankie and Johnny don’t see much in it

Frankie and Johnny sit out the game

Frankie and Johnny take each other’s name

Frankie and Johnny really don’t care

Frankie and Johnny tear out their hair

Frankie and Johnny just feel terrific

Frankie and Johnny read hieroglyphics

     Frankie pens “that’s all she wrote”

     Johnny croons an all-new note

     Frankie rhymes upon his soul

     Johnny abhors every goal

Frankie’s hymns, sung at night, unbend the burdened soul

Johnny groans “lend me a dime you fool; it’s time I pay my toll.”

—Tom Mandel