PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

The first time

I saw Sun Ra perform

was back in 1984

there was a place

in Manhattan

on 23^rd Street

called the Squat Theatre

I don’t know

if it’s still there

It was a tiny space

just one set of bleachers

and the band on the floor

I hadda duck under

the trombone player

to get up to go

to the bathroom

I had no idea

what to expect

I had only read about

Sun Ra in High Times

I never actually heard

him before this show

It was trip

I was glad I went

when he started jamming

I even got

to meet him

after the show

and he was one strange cat

He was like,

“Reagan is not the way.

Breshnev is not the way.

Ra is the way!”

I was like, “Okay.”

as I started

to gracefully take

backward steps

toward the door

I was 18 at the time

and it was a little more

than an 18 year old mind

short of Rimbaud

is designed to handle

but I did survive

and even learned to relish

that space is

 indeed the place to be

It seems we all

end up there finally
one way or another