Jazz Standard
“i’m old fashioned”
walking down the railroad tracks
behind the university
smoking blue dream
from a mountain dew can
hear the song in a passing car
consider how i’m doing
get the sudden inexplicable
urge to tell you
“i’m old fashioned”
in the same way i’ve heard
chet baker say it
hesitate and wonder
if it should be the way sinatra said it
in the drunken karaoke bar of my mind
or the way coltrane did
(instrumentally)
maybe dianne wiest’s rendition
in hannah and her sisters
(or was that carrie fisher?)
i actually don’t care who
because they all said it
with the same intensity
joaquin phoenix had
when he ripped the sink out from the wall
in that johnny cash biopic
regardless still really want to tell you
“i’m old fashioned”
Gerard Manogue publishes his poetry in little magazines. He lives in Southern California. Follow him on Twitter @GerardManogue.
