The Axeman of New Orleans

he came
out of the New Orleans
shadows

first went the grocer
and
the grocer's wife

her head
nearly severed
from her body

a mad man
mad for blood
and
mad for jazz

"Carry a trumpet as you walk the streets at night"

the first maniac of New Orleans
only tamed
by the music
the city played
so
well

back into the shadows he went
but
the jazz
kept playing

just in case
he
ever
came back