The American night
Is the name of a tree
And a river of jazz
Parallel to history

In the morning
The trees are crazy
The horizon
Made of paper

Knife handle mother of pearl
Never angry in the morning
The history of music
Alive in the dead

Waiting for the double
Song within the song
The fog of the airport lifting light
To the setting sun

Two trees etched scribble
South of the real tree
I liked it so much
I changed the ending

Tony D’Arpino is an American poet living in England. His latest book is Floating Harbour (Redcliffe Press, UK). Recent poems in the Evergreen Review, Molly Bloom, Poetry Salzburg, and the Glasgow Review of Books.