Right now he is driving to Oklahoma
in his Cadillac in which he has lived
(yes-LIVED in a car-in Austin
the life of a musician of jazz persuasion
is thin as strings for his guitar
He owns $400 worth of a pawn shop
He wants to be redeemed
He wants his instruments to be redeemed
He has work in Oklahoma
so he drives off under the same full moon
that animates your ON THE ROAD dreams tonight
I feel him driving away and wake up
to the myth of Austin as benign
when every Bird of Paradise
turns into a grackle to survive
Doves and wood pigeons of peace
must fly from the shotgun shacks
that litter from Katrina survivors
to the sides we do not look at
He played at open mikes like these
He gave his all-usually he returned to Mexico
This time he overstayed his season
Now he is on the way home to a barn in Oklahoma
to work his release from being a pawn
Perhaps some Queen will redeem him
if they love the jazz of miles enough
to be his key from these locks
he frees himself from
every smile under the moon
He flies tonight
HOME! on March 30,2010(for J D)
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