You see, with this distortion
in mind
I contort to
send my ears beyond this
long gone Jazz friend.

Now surprised
as I say
in my noticing in
my deepening reluctance
to let it be ‘just one of those things’
those social gatherings
that syncopate
brilliantly only
to end too early

instinctively
I decide I need
to pick myself and
the needle up
and with new found instant relief

I resolve to reach out
and to play once again
within yesterdays social rounds:
discovering wellness
in the sweetest of sweet conversations

far beyond his Georgia Brownness
and today’s wistful uncovering of grief.