Here,
take the whatnot
and put it youknowwhere,
I said sometime between yesterday
and World War II
to what's-her-name.

That this is gradual I'll buy,
but where's the grace?

A hippopotamus is gradual
but hardly graceful.

That's for sea gulls
at their high pleasure,
young ice skaters,
notes bent blue
on Scofield's blue guitar.