it was mine before
you
my first
kiss
played trumpet
a first chair first kiss
so
the silvery tang of
still-vibrating
lips
was already known
when yours
found
mine
Dizzy came with me
for twenty years you
clung
to hands that had
fingered
his puffer-fish cheeks
You didn’t
i did
oh yes
i
did
kneeling at his feet
enthralled by the corrugated
lines
that cast his face
he was old and i
was
not
so
when i lifted my hands
to touch as he blew
he only smiled
smiled ’round the
mouthpiece and
allowed
my childish fingers to
feel
his notes
no
you
never gave Diz
but you did
deliver some
King Buddy Bouldin
and his Louisiana moan,
the one that shot
through
you
the one that died
with
him
in the Jackson state home
the light that was Louis
beyond the white hanky
his Storyville horn
blowing
Awake!
to the whores
was there ever such
Joy
as his smile
ever such
Sorrow
as his eyes
broken-hearted Bix
(who you wanted to be)
standing on a muddy bank
heeding Louis’
clarion
call from a riverboat
upstream
oh, to have been
locked
years later in that
dirty room where they
hid, those two
hid
their skin just to
play
together
Bird’s Red Rodney and
Duke’s Cootie Williams
the good clean life and
warm sweet sound of
Clifford Brown, who was
all
and everything
Chet
was not
Chet
full of Oklahoma
California sun, was the
first
to come
back
slinking in on the
smoke
of a song
sneaking in through the
cracks
of my heart
i made him
leave his
horn
outside
until today
until tonight
tonight they are come
those who followed
your
triple-tongued
retreat
all those years ago
cats come back to the
Kitty
a glorious stream of
scat and swing
strays
scratching
at the door
and i have opened it
opened it
wide
have handed Chet his horn
been given a wink in return
a wink that says
We are Home
a wink that says
they are not
Yours
they are not
Ours
but
Mine
Mine
mine
forevermore
what’s that?
Naw,
you
keep Wynton
(he’s an ass)
take him with
you and
move
on over
now
‘cause
Miles
is at the door
©srogers 9 Feburary 2011
