B.Z.Niditch

IMPROVISATION NO. 11


I knew three conductors
Charles, Eric and Pierre
in their own way
were contraire,
one a tyrant,
another a sycophant
the third would rant
like a dictator
and rave with his paws
up in the air
demanding his students
would behave in silence
and only his audience
would hand out applause
and chants,
not from me
a ruffian and rebel
to whom nothing is illegal,
like Till Eulenspiegel,
an egalitarian,
not for any sectarian laws
nor rules of a totalitarian
who believed
in musical 12 toned liberty,
when it was my turn
for my recital in class
there were no panegyrics
from my quotes,
as I turned to poetry
combining free jazz
without being metrical
yet easy to tackle,
(while knowing the classics
like Virgil Georgics,
refined with Bloomsbury’s
Swinburne Sapphics),
which alas, burnt up
the authorities
by blowing alto sax
with only improvisation,
yet from my musical notes
got everyone to relax.