393

393

DUKE ELLINGTON : Ko Ko

In the rain before the Regent Hotel

There was a collision and a woman

Was thrown through the windshield

Of her sedan.

The rain went over

The body and the wind lifted the hair.

“Je ne sais rien, rien, rien!”

Lay in the tub and ran

Your hand down the folded curtain.

Sündenfall. Sündflower. In the field,

Blunt, black seedhead,

Bobbing in the drizzle.

A porter dragged her body through

The doors, staining the lobby carpet

With blood, and the door closed on

The legs and the arm fell.

He called and called,

And then there was an ambulance.

The stalk strain and the head loll,

The heavy germstem.

A photographer from the black door

Of the elevator ran, sang ; dumb and

At his knees.

In the end they found

She was one of someone's girls.