Listening To Monk

The room feels smoky
The lights are dim
Nothing but the piano
and the player

Coltrane and Miles
Rollins and Powell
Listening
Watching
Learning

The piano sounding
slightly out of tune
as the chords
so precise
follow each other
one by one

The melodies so deep
so thought out
yet almost random
sounding off the top
of his head

I can see him
Thelonious
alone in San Francisco