IMPROVISATION #30
( in memory of Kenneth Rexroth
1905-1982)

Who understands
a blank page
on canvas or cloth
when that moment
has not stylistically
arrived,
Kenneth Rexroth
running on riffs
of renewed energy
pushing out to jam
on the boundaries
to take out all the spam
in free stops
and span of notes
on sharps and flats
of a Renaissance man
in a shout to survive
at my soprano sax
amid the Beat cats
of expanding
San Francisco's art
in the shield of demands
from playing your part
in the vanguard
of a relaxed actor
and artistic director
connecting or conducting
the avant-garde scene
in devoting your attention
by shielding all your stress
and noting down tension
to your satisfaction
as if drawing out
a color field painting
in a coating of abstraction
waiting and guessing
until the process
will begin.