This Time the Cat’s Not Playing Jazz written ‘In Synergy’ with “Music” for the play “Four Roses” by William Bing
Thought you’d get off easily this time!
You think you can walk in anywhere
With your axe in hand,
And make like a musician?
You got so many tunes in your head
That all play at once.
That’s not chords, that’s
DISCORD.
That’s anarchy. Now you’re gonna tell me
You’re an anarchist so that makes it right.
But you can’t even read music.
You just want the pose.
You want the spotlight.
You want the groupies.
You want to dress up in your tux
And pose
With one foot on the bar
And a drink in your hand,
Reminiscing about pranks
You played on your agent
And the time you kicked a DownBeat writer
In the nuts for his bad review
Of your first farewell concert.
You are just an ordinary cat
Who wakes up on a rainy morning,
Puts on a pair of dorky rubber boots,
Goes to work, griping that it’s so wet out there,
And never writes that gripping, throbbing dark
Trombone solo
About the rain.
Lynne Bronstein is a veteran poet, fiction writer, and journalist. She has published five books, including Nasty Girls from Four Feathers Publishing. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in everything from Playgirl to Chiron Review, from underground newspapers to National Public Radio. She writes the column ShowBiz Cats, seen on Facebook. She loves film noir.
