Once Upon A One Time OnlyVernon Frazer, bassist, poet, writer

“Things only happen once
in the way that they happen”

Tom tells me. His saxophone
seizes the sounds of the night
the way Caesar seized the day

& transforms
tones chosen in the moment
into light.

Is it strength or mere bravado
that allows him to choose
once & one time only

from the twelve
tempered tones & all the distempered
shouts & slides & groans

in between? In the moment
of choosing my own mind
becomes

the purgatory
between the sound of light
& silence

of night, paralyzed
between anguish & absurdity,
pitying the sounds that won’t sing

one upon a one time only.