Ragtime~by Paul Lenzi

 

 

Ragtime

“Scott Joplin” by Sidney Holmes

ragged rhythms
strode boldly
turned the
century corner
where wine
colored light
played on ivory
keyboards
bordello pianos
gave stagger
to swaggering
sounds of an
ushering era
a time bridge
for music to
pass from its
martial born
meters through
missed beats
the drop stitch
of rag where
it danced for
brief stutter step
moments till
it tripped and fell
headlong smack
into the jazz age

 

 

From my books Ephemera and Legacies (vol. 2)