Sunday, September 27, 2009

Happy Birthday Bud Powell


"Lake Bud"

Lake Merritt is Bud Powell's piano
The sun tingles its waters
Snuff-jawed pelicans descend tumbling over each other like
Bud's hands playing Tea For Two
or Two For Tea
Big Mac Containers, tortilla chip, Baby Ruth
wrappers, bloated dead cats, milkshake
cups, and automobile tires
float on its surface
Seeing Lake Merritt this way is
like being unable to hear Bud Powell at Birdland
Because people are talking
Clinking glasses of whiskey and
shouting
"Hey, waiter"



Ishmael Reed

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