And All That Jazz

Mississippi river mist
swirls silently
streetlights throw haloes
of jaundiced light
fog rises from the street
the air is still
Notes from a tenor sax
sob for a St.Louis woman
long gone.

She said Unzip me honey.
In my memory
her black satin dress
slides to the floor
and she sways to Ella’s
seductive song
reaches for the wine glass
ruby red wine stains
on smiling lips.


No virgin
but just for that night
she was
as I tasted her mouth
Winemaid
of those jazz tuned nights
we improvised,
soared in random tempo
yet all was harmony.