(for cecil taylor)

elegance in the extreme
gives style to the hours
of coaxing warmth outta
no where

elegant hoodlums
elegant intellectuals
elegant ornithologists
elegant botanists

but elegance in the extreme helps most 
the stranger who hesitates
to give what there is
for fear of unleashing madness
which is        sometimes
uninvolved in contemporary mores
archetypal realities or graciousness

in absence of extreme elegance 
madness can set right in like
a burnin gauloise on Japanese silk 
though highly cultured
even the silk must ask
how to burn up discreetly