Kinda Blue
- Kinda Blue
It hit me in a noisy bistro—
the muted frequency—Jimmy Cobb’s brushes were fine sand
blowing over glass—into a crack of wind-funnel—
slow and strange Count Basie said—not like the frantic bebop on-the-road,
it should be passé nowbut the austere, wavering
alienated half-valvesneedled a bridge between two boroughs.
Glasses clink with mediocre wines,plates of poached salmon blur. [End Page 63]
Peter Balakian
Peter Balakian’s most recent book of poems is Ziggurat (Chicago, 2010). In 2012, he was the recipient of the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice Diplomacy and Tolerance. His memoir Black Dog of Fate (Basic, 1997) was awarded the PEN/Albrand Prize. He directs the creative writing program at Colgate University.
