Johnny Cash Was A Friend Of Mine. By Dennis Moriarty

Johnny Cash was a friend of mine

Age and distance no barrier to friendship.
And over the years I lost count
Of the pills he popped the women he shagged
The booze that he drank
The men that he shot and the songs that he sang.
We met for the first time in San Quentin
State prison
He on the stage and me in the front row
Of a south London bar.
And together we toured the world wrecking hotel rooms
painting walls black
Taking many an axe to many a door when many
A handle would do.
We carried our guitars like riffles slung over our backs
Shooting from the hip
Spraying songs like bullets where ever we went.
A generous man a man generous to a fault he shared with me
His women his pills and his booze
Showed me how easy it was to surrender my soul to the devil
And I did again and again until it became an addiction
So easy to feed
Hell becoming my ultimate holiday destination.
A generous man so generous in fact he asked nothing more
In return than a slice of my sanity an appreciative ear
And the last dregs of my pride.

Yes I’m proud to say that Johnny Cash was a friend of mine.

Dennis Moriarty was born in London, England and now lives in Wales. Married with five grown up offspring Dennis likes walking the dog in the mountains, reading and writing.
In 2017 he won the Blackwater poetry competition and went to county Cork in Ireland to read his work at the international poetry festival. Dennis has had poems featured in many publications including Blue nib, Our poetry archive, Setu bilingual, The passage between and others.