Crackhead with Saxophone
There’s a crackhead saxophonist
at the hotel for indigents now
we’ve never had a jazz musician
on or off crack on the block
I hear him at 3 a.m.
playing Ornette Coleman
then he mimics an ambulance that passes
and goes into Taps
Up and down the street
he carries his golden, shiny thing
and I wonder
how many times
he’s been tempted to hock it
how many mornings
he’s woken to find it
close as a lover
he didn’t sell out.
Jon Bennett writes and plays music in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. You can find more of his work at https://jonbennettwebsite.and on most music streaming websites.
