Straight No Chaser.
The title of course is '40s bar parlance.
You see this on American Movie Channel.
Humphrey Bogart needing a shave.
How do you want that?
Straight, no chaser.
You know, that kind of thing.
Thelonious Monk wrote a tune called Straight, No Chaser.
It's beautiful blues.
[SCATTING]
It's the blues.
What I love about the blues is that it's
radical, and irreducible, and you never
know what people are going to do with it once they
get a hold of it.
They can never tame it or academicize it.
So Sally Swisher, who's a poet and lyricist,
she wrote these words to that.
It says, (SINGING) Well Monk set it straight.
It's not a time when you wait.
You got to be on, you got to be now,
and you got to be, you got to be here right now.
He knew the answer, that time's a dancer.
He knew you can't back up the moment
and take it with you on the road.
So now is the time.
So that's the point of departure for this titled poem, which
is called Straight No Chaser.
Sonnet.
What wound up seeming strange to you was me, but why?
You bad mouth me all over town, then turned around
and asked me if I'd be your lover one more time.
So we got down.
It felt real good, Baby, didn't it, being real.
Our river overflowed.
Our tree limbs shook the woods, a stormy sky.
Hey, no big deal.
I wrapped myself around you, then
you took your own sweet time, and mine, coming unglued,
pinned down that way.
I couldn't tell you off.
You broke our bond, but stuck there in the mood.
To woo, or not to woo.
My voice went soft.
We slept all slow, got back to work by 10:00.
I bet you're wondering if I'll call again.