swinging super cats make the maul
hypin’ sweet melody man lurids
tenth floor walkup flat bathroom
tenement face in the mirror
saxaphone bass clarinet drums
nothing means anything but the music
life a rolling painting behind
the lead and catching the changes
bopping killer hard screaming trumpet
sucks everything down in preparation
for the sounds of andy
topper andy takes the light and
blows his epauline to the end
of the world and back
wailifying the unsayable
sending his history out of himself
he died poor and addicted
dirty and downed
unknown and unloved
but now he’s heard in every
lowdown swamp soup kitchen
in the universe
topper
The Topper
some call him only
The Brick