LANDSCAPE WITH SAXOPHONE by Thylias Moss.

The usual is there,
nondescript trees opened like umbrellas,
pessimist always expecting rain,
chickadees whose folding and unfolding wings
suggest the shuffling and reshuffling
of the cardsharp’s deck;
nothing noteworthy except the beginning saxophonist

blowing with the efficacy of wolves addicted to pigs,
blowing down those poorly built houses,
the leaves off the trees, the water in
another direction, the ace of spades
into the ground with the cardsharp’s bad intentions.
The discord and stridency set off landslides
and avalanches; his playing moves the earth
not lovers who are satisfied too quickly
and by the wrong things…

From Pyramid of Bone, copyright 1989 by Thylias Moss, reprinted by permission of the University Press of Virginia.

Category: Rituals: Music, Dance, Sports,