after Thelonious Monk
Poetry by Chris Ritter
Monk plunked like
the insect danced like
how it unwound like
jagged jazz and
she hated it
down in the basement
Rhaphidophoridae …
cave cricket
camel cricket
spider cricket
And he had laughed
at her hysterics as
Griffin tried to tenor the keys as
she hipped his dirty clothes basketed
down each hesitant
heartbeat step in 4/4 time
Out of sight their insect’s
curved brown body
whip-like antennae
fat back legs
elbowed backward
It’s real fear seeming
off key unexpected
about close
Just a bug he shrugged mistaken
What are you afraid of she shot back
before disappearing
By then she left when
the insect intersected
finally
with her wake
Chris Ritter’s work has appeared in several publications, most recently The Black Coffee Review, The Avalon Literary Review, and Philadelphia Stories. Chris is a Philadelphia native living and working in South Jersey.
Arcturus 