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Black Man in the Dark
for Charlie Parker, D. March 12, 1955
By Jan La Roche
This final night
his saxophone deciphers
thought to sound
telling stories
in bursts of alto air,
fingers stepping on brass,
lips trembling on mouthpiece.
After the club
he walks the smeary streets
with heroin sweat the rain
cannot erase. Plodding
and faint, he’s possessed
with musical notes.
A rhythm of addiction and pain
compete against the music
he hears internally,
but they don’t stop him
from calling his wife, Chan,
with a another promise
to paint the garage.
Hours later his heart stops
on a friend’s sofa,
freeing him
from creating
what hasn’t been
heard before.
Beside him,
his waiting sax
echoes.