In high school I would be
alone in our dark garage
practicing my saxophone
when I’d notice police sirens.
Neighbors didn’t want to hear
my honking scales and arpeggios
any more than my mother did.
Not at that hour. Folks were serious
about their sleep back then.
I would’ve been famous by now.
Brian Beatty is the author of the poetry collections Magpies and Crows; Borrowed Trouble; Dust and Stars: Miniatures; Brazil, Indiana: A Folk Poem; and Coyotes I Couldn’t See. Hobo Radio, a spoken-word album of Beatty’s poems featuring music by Charlie Parr, was released by Corrector Records in January 2021.