Awaiting the Deal <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A woman plays soft jazz at the piano,
\nand I am here to meet night rising,
\nafloat on expectation and prosecco,
\nclosing eyes in hope that the
\nevening ahead leads toward
\na tomorrow unlike any of
\nthousands already known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already wondering if I can forgive
\nthe haze of disappointment
\nthat inevitably follows, like seeing
\nthat news anchor without her makeup
\nreaching for a quart of milk
\nin the wee hours of morning,
\na strange disheveled ghost.
\nI managed then the stone faced
\ndenial of recognition, pretending
\nto be polite stranger saint of
\n24\/7 grocery store aisle, he who
\nsees nothing outside of dreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The notes trip pleasantly around
\nlyrics of a journey in smoky blue,
\nand already I dread the compromise,
\nthe rib given up for companion,
\nthe taste of forbidden fruit,
\nthe serpent\u2019s clever insinuation.
\nSensuality hovers like a promise
\nas it must, international intrigue
\ndominating thoughts of conversation,
\nthe silky allure of some foreign
\nculture\u2019s colorful entreaty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reminds me of that sultry
\npenthouse party at the
\npop art icon\u2019s commercial behest,
\nall the pretty people staring out
\nin mutual admiration, making
\nimportant calls that never
\nquite connected. I read the pain
\nin the model\u2019s eyes before realizing
\nthe actual scars that sang out
\nto millions on tabloid pages.
\nI understood how such beauty
\nmight drive a madman
\nover the edge forever.
\nIt\u2019s a world of harsh injustice.
\nI thanked her for the smile,
\nbut she soon left with another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At such times, even the familiar
\ngets lost in fog of impropriety,
\nand waking with views of the park
\nseems Technicolor false, another
\npostcard from someone\u2019s stolen mail,
\nreality drifting away like those
\ntiny people out on the street below.
\nMinor chords invite trepidation,
\nand I heed their unresolved warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praying to Gods of blurred boundary,
\nI ride out elongated hours until dawn,
\nplaying my part, dressed to the nines
\nwith careful designer flair, on my
\nimpresario\u2019s vigil solo, no seconds
\nin my corner to cajole and encourage
\nas I mentally recite calculated pitch
\nand make it sound spontaneous as hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the curse of my blessing,
\nthe ceaseless stories that form
\ninto a life reflected in shoes well shined.
\nThere\u2019s something sentimental here,
\nworth your long-term investment,
\na nine-part documentary of serious intent.
\nIt will offer heartbreak, tenderness,
\nand currents of social responsibility
\ndiscussed from the safe distance of
\nyour offshore havens, the ones
\nyou\u2019ll swear never ever exist.
\nIs that woman still playing?
\nWhile I was sitting pondering
\na special request for luck,
\nshe appears to have vanished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gary Glauber is a poet, fiction writer, teacher, and former music journalist. He champions the underdog to the melodic rhythms of obscure power pop. He cares about the world’s stories. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/137-Cropped.jpg?fit=4699%2C2406&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/truechili\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}