Luther Brown, Inside Poor Monkey's

Inside Poor Monkey's

Luther Brown, Delta State University

Essay Sections:

Introduction | Lounge | Poor Monkey | Recommended Resources

Poor Monkey:

Since 1963 Willie Seaberry has lived in a tiny single room of the building, filled almost completely by his bed. A slightly larger kitchen serves as a bar when the lounge is open, and the rest of the building includes space for several large tables, a pool table, and a stage area for live bands or a disc jockey. Sixty to seventy people can dance, move around, or sit.

Seen from the outside, the lounge is a shanty. Inside, the space opens into an array of colors and sounds. Three mounted TV sets display different programs. Strings of Christmas and rope lights flash. A disco ball reflects a rainbow of colors off walls covered either with foil or loud floral prints. Large, cut-out letters spell "Season’s Greetings" year round, and tinsel in multiple lengths and shapes hangs from the ceiling. Walls are carpeted with photographs of images ranging from school graduation to promotional shots of strippers. Stuffed or sculptural monkeys, some amended with a plastic banana or a lifelike dildo, hang from beams or sit in corners, along with a few naked plastic baby dolls. A sign over the Dutch door separating the kitchen from the main public space, through which beverage purchases are passed, reads, "This is a high class place. Act respectable."

In one corner stands a large, welded-metal sculpture of Willie Seaberry holding a guitar, made by Monkey’s friend Larry Grimes. From the sculpture’s mouth protrudes a bolt with a red end, representing Monkey’s signature cigar. Attached to the sculpture’s waist is a pair of handcuffs, perhaps indicating that he is the local "law." A monkey sits on the sculpture’s head. At the far end of the main room is the DJ’s booth, surrounded by large speakers and a huge sign advertising Heineken beer.
On most Thursdays, an elderly man sits quietly behind the DJ on a stool. This is "Dr. Tissue," who has been a fixture at the Lounge "from the beginning" according to Mr. Seaberry. On Halloween, 2005, a wooden military surplus coffin was added to the outside of the Lounge with the words "Rest in Peace Poor Monkey" painted on it and a stuffed toy gorilla sticking out of one end.
The metamorphosis that changes the shanty into a party-land affects its proprietor and his regulars. Most days, as he drives a tractor or operates a cotton picker, Seaberry wears overalls. In his lounge he favors bright, color-coordinated suits, with matching belt buckles, derby or cowboy hats, and boots. If he's feeling up to it, he changes clothing in his bedroom every hour or so and emerges, strutting as if on a fashion show runway, in baby blue, bright white, crimson, yellow, plaid, or even highly reflective silver. Seaberry sometimes further accessorizes his wardrobe with large signs around his neck. One reads "For Sale" on one side, and is flipped over to reveal "Private Property." Another reads "Beer Drinkers Make Better Lovers," with "3 Way or 4 Way" on the reverse.

Essay Sections:

Introduction | Lounge | Poor Monkey | Recommended Resources