Midnight Blue
- Midnight Blue
In memoriam: John Coltrane
September 23, 1926–July 17, 1967
The tenorman's solobrings back East Village daysin those years before New Yorkwas ruined, yellow poolsof streetlights on wet walkways,Tompkins Square Books,and the sound of boatsfrom the Greenpoint docksghosting the East River.
The naïve days between Koreaand the horror of Vietnam,idealistic Cooper Union students,everyone reading Sartreand Simone de Beauvoir,drinking Tokay because weknew no better.Or wandering up Avenue Cat 2 a.m. past the closedJewish shops, past thechallah bakery,the Puerto Rican streetwalkersgone home, the Yiddish poetsall in bed.
And I was happy, happyin the yellow pools of streetlamps,happy with my own thoughts.2 a.m., most people asleep,and the tenorman plays"Blues to Elvin" throughthe cigarette smoke and dim lights,his finest solo of the night,and the redbrick wallslisten. [End Page 33]
James Deahl lives in Sarnia, Ontario, with the writer Norma West Linder, where he writes full-time. He's the author of thirty literary titles, his most recent poetry books being: Earth's Signature, Travelling The Lost Highway, and Red Haws To Light The Field. He is the editor of Tamaracks: Canadian poetry for the 21st century. His volume of criticism is The Confederation Poets: The Founding of a Canadian Poetry, 1880 to the First World War, from Guernica Editions. Deahl is the father of Sarah, Simone, and Shona, with whom he's translating the work of the 19th century Québécois poet Émile Nelligan.
