The Moment...

...when wasting
precious seconds
of life
becomes crime
and punishment
too heavy
to hold
i turn
shrug off
guilty weight

...of choosing
long-term
commitment to
spite fears
while smiling

...of emergence
from nocturnal
dementia waking
to daylight

...weatherman speaks
through television
words raising
heavy head
says, "Today,"
is the
first day
of Spring."

For Zig

I took her to the Elephant Room tonight

We ordered a beer and
Bailey’s with coffee on the side

She talked about how
She wants kids while she’s still young
I wonder if mom and dad hadn’t waited
Until their thirties –
Would I have more nineties memories of
You in your sixties?

The quintet takes me back –
To times I've never tasted

Times when you blew
That horn in a big band with
Baggy black tux Betty –
Giving back your pre lost lip on
Trumpet voluntary grin
She smiles from her table for two – feet
Tapping to be led
Yet content

They were blowing tonight, Zig
The sax player really swung
He didn’t just ascend and descend like
Dead soul
He upped and downed
Tongue tap-dancing on stairs
So surprising I smiled

The trombone jumped in after
Post solo applause
He got in our faces with his louds then
Let us exhale as he waved raised eyebrows
To us
Dynamic miles away

The pianist
Composed

The bassist
Fell
(And rose)
Up and down that neck
So smoothe then grit-toothed that
We weren't sure if he
was trying to kiss
or kill his big brown girl

The drummer
Baby brushed the hair of hides
And the ride with a
Chi chit
Cha chi
Chit
Cha chi
Chit
Cha chi his
Kick drum was the
Smallest I’ve seen
(You know how jazz drum kits are.)

The one who
Would have given you a real kick
Of course
The trumpet player
Blew higher and higher
Warm winded perfect weather night
It was his night, Zig
In celebration of his CD release
That is, he came out with a new
Compact Disc

(CD’s are like
Small shiny silver
Record albums
Played with a laser beam
Instead of a needle)

Do you remember CD’s?
Did you ever listen to one?
I remember you dug technology
Specifically
Photography

This girl
Took some pictures of the band
With a digital SLR camera
(Instead of film –
A tiny card
You develop inside a computer
Instead of inside a dark room)

How about that, Zig?

I know you would have gone up
To her all thousand questions bursting
One being “May I?”
And she would have let you, too –
On account of your
Warmth and smiling
Cute-old-man-ness

Or maybe we'd have both been young for
What is time-travel, if not
Resurrection?

We would have smiled at each other
A lot tonight
What with all the jazz
And just
Being together

Last time I was here it was
A big band –
Not as big as the ones you were in but –
You know
20 pieces or so

I didn’t plan this but –
I had your old brown briefcase with me
(The zippered one from the Southland Corporation)
Since I moved to Austin,
I’ve been using it to tote my
Poems and homework
Tax information
Ray Bradbury books too
I patted the case that night and
Hoped that – somehow
You could feel my hand and the horn stabs
Through time and space
You were there to me in that briefcase
Enjoying all the jazz
(especially the tunes by Count Bassie and –

And I just realized that tonight
I had on your old jeans
(the Calvin Kleins)
They’re a little big in the waist
But
Just
The right
Length...