The Blue Note was dim and misty.
Dying stage lights hid from mahogany;
My cheap beer tasted like sweet cigars and coffee.
Melodically hypnotic.

The drummer started ra-ta-ta-ting
On the snare—ta-ting-ting—hi-hat triplet
Tricked in.
Slowly I sunk back
            To 1925.
I saw Al Capone’s ghost
Laughing at the front table
Black pork barrel cap bouncing.
 
Bass boom-boom bowed in,
Slow
            and
                        sexy.

My booth rumbled up my boots
And my bones;
Each finger and toe dancing
In swinging unison.

Then she slid onstage;
Invisible feet beneath deep dress;
Spotlight shrouded her face in shadow—
She opened her mouth.

The whole room fell in love.

Her face sparkled in the purple penumbra,
Dust glowed like diamonds over black curls.
The blue eyes widened and shut with the midnight
Melody.
Dark and light, too, clouds
Passing in front of a full moon.

Our every desire and doubt flickered
Amorphous, in flux in her smoky eyes.
 
The Blue Note was dim and misty.
Dying stage lights hid from mahogany;
My cheap beer tasted like sweet cigars and coffee.

Copyright 2010 by Christopher Danzig.
Used with the author's permission.