Monday, August 5, 2024

JAZZ RIFFS

Does the wish 
to be precise 

outlive this stilted, finite 
language?

Can an absence 
in the syncopation 

still be felt 
ahead of time? 

If so, where
in the bar

does the feeling 
occur? 

*

I don't believe 
for a minute 
in self-estrangement, 

no matter 
how much the lack
of encouragement hurts.

The perfume 
of truth 
has been liberally daubed 

on all of the homeliest 
words in these sentences, 

in hopes of bootstrapping
tripe to blank verse;

but whatever I 
"meant to say" 
will have to suffice, 

since the alternative 
reading would 
sound even worse.