Jazz Standard

by Gerard Manogue

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.