The Valley Cafe, 1967

by

Thomas Michael McDade

The trumpeter who calls horses to Post
at Narragansett earns more
backing buxom women dancing off clothes
and sopranos belting out tunes
to warm up the crowds.
When a songbird is so good no one bangs
bottles on tables or shouts "bring on the stripper"
he feels like a Broadway musician.
Enter the project kids who used to skip
school for the track and he’s back at the races.
Nine times a day they cheered him
as if he were Satchmo.
No fences to scale or cops to dodge here:
show your leer and you’re legal at the Valley Café.
It doesn’t matter when these loyal fans appear
if a sweet child he loves like a daughter is holding
a note she’s been chasing since birth
or a stripper is bumping and grinding
a fresh theory of motion.
When the project kids shuffle in like new owners,
he rises and blares the most exquisite Post Time riff
in the annals of racing.
Counting this gang the best field of colts ever born,
this trumpeter can’t help but wonder why
the hell not one ever took up the horn
got good enough to bless or blame him.

NEXT?
Why don't you look at Starting to Show
by: Adam Gosha
from: Rochester, MN, US

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