University Medical Center, Minneapolis, 10 May 2005
From Riker’s Island
Furloughed seagulls
Protest the incarceration
Of cloudless clarion skies
Exploding over
The Williamsburg Bridge
Sonny’s notes fail
Pedestrian ears
The rhythmic wreckage
Of East River eddies
Suffocates the din
Long after subway urine
Of the homeless unnamed
Reminds us of spring
Notes:
This poem is dedicated to saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the
period from 1959-61 when he often played his saxophone on
the Williamsburg Bridge so not to bother anyone.