The Clarinet
First published in Mosaic #28, 1988, page 82 (University of California, Riverside). This was my first published longer poem in any journal other than school-related publications. Also published in Sand Hill Review #4, Spring 2003, page 33. +
A Londoner with
hatovercoatclarinet
plays amiable
songstunesmelodies
outside
the Royal Festival,
command performance
inside.
His hatovercoatclarinet
case
are worn,
and the tired case lies
open
where naked
reedspenniespounds
rest.
The music
floats
sweetly
across the Thames
played
through thin
woolgloveswithoutfingers
and when the concert
ends
bowlersgownsducktails
waltz like the river by
to the sound
of a dreamy
clarinet.