artwork: ralph murre
When asked
by Albert De Genova
Tell us something about your saxophone…
Well, it’s been with me a long long time–
It is the back beat in my bones
swaggering through nights of smoke and moan
a brassy whore of musk and wine.
I’ll tell you somethin’ ‘bout my saxophone.
A voodoo spell of chants and stones,
it’s filled with grindin’-n-blues-in’ and rhyme.
And more, it knows the crying in my bones
knows the unanswered echo of a telephone
has traveled the roads of lies and crimes.
Let me tell you ‘bout my saxophone.
Sometimes it has a mind of its own
its reedy voice don’t sound like mine,
yet it’s always ringing through my bones.
In my hands it feels like home
a curious marriage of wind and time.
I’ll tell you ‘bout my saxophone
it is the singing in my bones.
~
previously published in Back Beat, second
edition (Fractal Edge Press)
