Less than zero (Soprano Dulcimer)

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Part of a longer song --- forgot most of it, sorry -- inspired by friend of mine who died about 25 years back. Wish there were some profound, uplifting moral message in it, but there isn't.

The all-walnut soprano dulcimer has no identifying marks, but I believe it was made by Jim Miller in Missouri. It's cheap & beat up and doesn't really hold its pitch, but it seemed suited to the task at hand.

The poem:

Davie Jones he lived alone, in the SRO near the Soldiers' Home downtown
In his mind the bells they rang for his missing foot left in Da Nang

He stepped onto that boomin trap
Plenty of morphine right on tap
But Stateside he just had nowhere to go
He was less than zero

So Davie went down to Mexico
Where the cheeba was cheap and the drinks did flow
Mornings lost in hazy dreams
Of childhood friends and football teams

But the checks dried up and the smack did too
Holes worn through his only shoe
Broke & broken he limped on back to Reno
Where he was less than zero

© Richard Latker 2011