Charlie's Blues (in E Major)

At his apartment
they sat sipping drinks on opposite sides
of the small room.

She asked how he’d ended upon that stage,
behind the piano.

He explained that Schroeder died
with a needle in his arm & that,
every night,
Charlie wanted his playing
to let Schroeder live again.

She asked if he had heard
from her brother.
She said she hadn’t spoken to him
since he dropped out of college
and vanished.

She said that her search for him
could not go on much longer.

He moved closer but said nothing,
finished his drink & looked through the glass,
the floorboards distorting
as he rolled it between his palms.

She gritted her teeth & looked away…

Their lovemaking was not passionate,
but there was a moment
when they locked eyes, each
trying to understand the other’s

need, perhaps, for release,
an escape.
An escape from memory & pain,
an escape only found
in one brief
ecstatic
moment.