LatinosUSA

 Freddie Freeloader / Miles Davis

Slow and lazy, Miles’ horn

opens the tune, subtle

bass, piano, and percussion

nudging it along as I climb

into the truck, passenger side,

a rare occasion. Anesthesia

doing its best to hang on, though

wearing off as we drive away

from the surgery center,

wants to hold onto that horn

as long as possible.

Piano takes over, a conversation

about my procedure, details

rattled off as if I remember

any of it, but a percussive beat,

fingers snapping me out of it,

reminds me I’m just waking up.

The horn seems to wake up

as we head for a late lunch.

Twenty hours after my last meal,

I feel the hunger gnawing at me,

Coltrane and Adderly on sax

adding impetus. Piano, bass

and percussion come out front

to lead into the horn, smooth,

but punctuated by sax

as Freddie Freeloader exits and

I leave the truck for some chow.

Freddie Freeloader is one of my “random riffs.” Written in April, while my collection, Random Riffs, was at the printer, it’s not included in the collection, but like those other poems it was written while I was driving (dictating to my phone), and it references my destination or reason for my trip and music that inspired it. Like the other poems, that music is the subtitle.