A band of jazz musicians, some retired, regularly play the Chelsea Inn in Easton, Bristol

Catching the swing, we synco-

pate into the Chelsea. The band

of six take time from years gone when:

brass resonates at front,

piano trips an autonomic rhythm,

banjo strikes arpeggio. Players retune

from lives of slower time,

set glasses dancing. Outside, Bristol

in January plays gusty wind,

debris and detritus; but in

the pub the air is clarinet

as time’s lefthanders beat the rhythm strong,

keep ragged time enhancing.