July 1, 2013

Charlie's Blues (in E Major)

He finished his beer in gulps.
His set had been a long one,

& the air in the room had become wet
with the sweat of bodies that danced.

As he stood to leave, he heard a voice he had,
at times, attempted to forget.

Her squared jaw & midnight curls
had remained the same,
but he scarcely recognized her
otherwise.

There was an air about her.

There was distress
& frustration
in the way she moved across the room –

stiff movements brought on
by long nights of driving, of

trying to reach a destination
not on the map.

Her eyes were ringed with a lonesomeness
he only saw in the corners of women’s eyes
after he paid them.

She saw that the stringy hair
of his childhood

had finally filled out,
& that he had grown tall.

His face had thinned, & the fingers
she once called pudgy and infantile

had become long vines that could conjure
wild forests of sounds –

he looked as though
life had hammered him
into the form of someone

she should have been afraid
of talking to.

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