IMPROVISATION#111
IN THE SNOW
for Jules Olitski
(1922-2007)

In the snow
of this landscape
giving way to relax
under the sun's
daily routines at noon
yielding to art
after the first
of winter storms
subsides
not only in the city
but in the hinterland
as February winds
shape our solitary
time of warmth
in a silent absence
from shielding shadows
of a poet's solitude
yet your drawing in
poems like watching
the spray paintings
of Olitski gives me pause
living the in space
of an empty Arctic canvas
off the Don
far from country mirrors
of your Russian fathers
of in or outlaws
from cold corridors open to
rather abstract moods
of old riffs from my tenor sax
it may be better or worse
as we relax
writing dear John
or Joan letters
to your ex
off a window's
field color of proof
life goes on at home
in my underground
of a sound proof studio.