for Josie

That jazz show raised the dead
They danced like the bones of music
The music was pumping blood
Animating their dust into flesh

That music was shooting guns
Into the streets of being alive
Drums unsettled the serpents
The earth opened under them

Trumpets were speaking
In the tongues of angels
The sax deep-kissed a lover
Until both felt the rapture

Over the devil of time
The bassist thrashed at a rhythm
And the piano lifted all her legs
Like a spider dancing on a web