Two-story Bldg. on Vernon

by Sarah Sarai

But when it comes to funking it up, Groove had no match.
                                                                  — jazz reviewer

Richard Groove Holmes lives upstairs.
He gets his own poem.
She must be thirteen by now.
It is Sunday.
He is big–bellied.
You know big–bellied men,
How solid big bellies can be.
That was him at the electric organ.
“After Hours.”
Now he’s left his apartment and
descended the stairway for
California sun.
Air about his body more so.
His body more so.
Is how it is with well–knowns.
The more–so.
Richard Groove Holmes squints
to inquire of her psyche.
The particular flattery of an adult.
This thirteen–year–old
Balancing on crabgrass.
Thirteen and white.
Her brother–in–law black.
Late afternoon, her parents
drive back to the Valley.
That new sound everyone
heard is not on the radio.