.

Midnite Blue

1960 — could have been
any weekday night,
closing in on 11:30.
Most of the guys
had gone home.
I stayed on the corner
of King and Train,
outside of Aram’s Spa,

After tuning
the old Chevy’s radio
to HDH, I’d take down
one of the metal milk cases
from the stack
at the side of the store,
sit, lean back
against the brick wall
and wait for Midnite Blue
to slide in on Norm Nathan’s
Sounds in the Night.

Like the clouds above,
an occasional car floats
through the indigo haze
and right on time
Basie’s sublime notes
skip from the car
and across the sidewalk
and start my foot tapping.

Like delicate silk
lifted by a breeze,
Midnite Blue ascends,
gracefully transcendent
into the blue / black night.