Ode to the Guitar

The trombone is not a social instrument.
Rarely at a front porch barbeque–
the beers getting warm, the rhythmic
tones of the conversation drifting
smokey and comfortable–does someone
reach slowly down and open the long case
of the trombone, nod slow and steady,
screwing the slide to the bell,
and, while everyone else plays the easy
strings of their voices, blows a quiet
and mournful theme to Peter Gunn.

This scene, as we all know, and many
many other scenes like it, this stage
for the memories of the human race,
the very dirt the culture grow in, this
is the country of the guitar.