The November Poem

Notwithstanding this, I had to stop by to record my November poem. I've been reading a history of popular music and there read about the great cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Two things I learned about Bix there seemed touching and, juxtaposed, the stuff of poetry. The poem is entitled, of course, Young Man with a Horn.

After Bix died
Hoagy Carmichael
carried the mouthpiece
of Bix’s cornet
in his pocket
for years.

Back in Davenport,
where Bix was from,
the records he’d made
and mailed home
faithfully

remained unopened.

His people, you see,
didn’t approve
of jazz.