sometimes all I want
is someone to listen to jazz music with me
like my grandfather does, closing his eyes
and fingering the notes on his deep, blue-toned tenor
saxophone, which he's only been able to play well since he turned 65.

I don't play like he does. Not with the experiences he puts behind it,
playing the death of his son and the
loss of his wife's breasts to cancer.

He doesn't play much jazz about the graduation of my father from grad school
or the birth of my cousins.

It's about feeling the rhythm of being 73
and embracing it with a smile
and a song.

why can't we do that at 20?