Visions of Thelonious Sphere Monk at
The club piano, playing “Monk’s Dream”
Or “Green Chimneys” or “Well You Needn’t,”
Man oh man, those were great nights to be there
When the musical genius in the fedora
Showed up four hours after he was due to play,
But none of the customers seemed to mind
The wait for his appearance outside on
St. Marks Place (there is no apostrophe
In the name, motherfucker), the Countess
On his arm, and her Silver Cloud Rolls-Royce
Illegally parked outside, he bops in,
The room hushed with this jazz apparition,
One in the morning, but things just starting.
G. Stephens is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead; the travel memoir Lost in Seoul (Random House, 1990); and the award-winning essay collection Green Dreams. His poetry collection, entitled History of Theatre or the Glass of Fashion will be out in 2019. A chapbook of short-short poems entitled Hobo Haiku will also be published shortly.
