Po’ Monkey’s Lounge, a legendary juke joint in unincorporated Bolivar County near Merigold, Mississippi, was founded in the early 1960s by Willie “Po’ Monkey” Seaberry. Housed in a cypress-plank sharecropper shack on the Hiter family farm, it was one of the last rural juke joints in the Mississippi Delta, a vital space for African American socializing, blues music, and dancing amid segregation. Known for its vibrant decor—stuffed monkeys, Christmas lights, and disco balls—and Seaberry’s colorful suits, it drew locals, Delta State students, and global blues tourists by the 1990s. Featured in works by photographer Birney Imes and writer Richard Grant, it earned a Mississippi Blues Trail marker in 2009. After Seaberry’s death in 2016, the joint closed, and its contents were auctioned in 2018. The building, owned by the Hiter family, remains unpreserved.

On my recent visit to Po’ Monkey’s, captured in my latest photos, the juke joint was in severe disrepair, a shadow of its former vibrancy. The tin and plywood structure, surrounded by cotton fields, is crumbling, with decay suggesting it may not stand much longer. Eight years ago, my earlier photos showed a lively, cluttered interior with Seaberry’s eclectic decor intact—stuffed monkeys, lights, and signs like “No Loud Music, No Dope Smoking, No Rap Music.” The contrast is stark: what was once a lively blues haven is now a fading relic, underscoring the urgency to preserve this piece of Delta history. I plan to return, hoping to document more before it’s lost forever.