STREET MUSIC

well
add tuba to the list

glad I went out for a beer
despite all my slacker friends
being unavailable

as it turned out
it was Mardi Gras--
like I've never partaken of

and even at a semi-dive like 2nd St
there was a definite groove on

strange goddesses dancing
next to dorky guys like me
with beads on

marching out the door and across the street
in some second line tradition

reminding me of the pagan way
of reclaiming a neighborhood

led by a motley crew of
trumpet, harmonium and tuba
along with thirty or forty revelers

and followed by me hollering
in blues scales
next to a seven year old girl
playing her heart out
on a saxophone

cars stopped
the train went by
and wasn't the night sky

jazzed