First Blues
That summer night
Was hot
Steaming like a crab
Luscious under the shell
Televisions gone bleary
Blinked
In front of men
In undershirts drinking beer
Wives upstairs took showers
Caught
A glimpse of their backs
In hallway mirrors
I sat in the dark
Invisible
On the backporch
Drinking in the night
And it tasted good
So good
Going down
And somebody like me
Blew night through an alto sax
Blew and blew
His cooling breath
His hot cool breath on me—
And I came alive
Glowing
In the dark
Listening like a fool
Saundra Rose Maley, "First Blues" from Disappearing Act. Copyright © 2015 by Saundra Rose Maley. Reprinted by permission of Saundra Rose Maley.