Saturday, In Turn

Monday, July 5, 2010
ruby-throated, this
morning’s hummingbird
trembling at the yellow

hibiscus, a cartoon
quarter-note just
played; Coltrane

and Monk at the Five
Spot, 1957, New York’s
Ruby aflame and spinning

past the subway stairs,
Eighth Street, the city’s
dank underground breath

riffling her skirt,
her high heels spiking
the damp pavement, Shadow

Wilson and Wilbur Ware,
heel tap and the taut seams
of her figured stockings,

“My dear,” someone said,
as though in passing, as much
breath and touch as speech
Thursday, July 1, 2010