ON BOARD BZ'S SHIP

Beyond the home harbor
you hear the morning call
of birdsong reaching high
over the sound barrier
by reefs on the ocean,
a ship's noted passenger
hears the brief melody
and composes
a jazz sonata for oboe
in b flat major
attends its premiere
in Paris,
also listening on board
a poet writes his lyrical epic
based on that one note
theme in his word play,
a Polish artist washes
the canvas of modernism
after hearing
the air born winged singer
in the impalpable wind,
yet what of the canary
who escaped its cage.