H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

BOB RIXON

Chet Baker’s Blue Note

Take a note slightly flat

with barely a breath, listen for

a bird singing in that air.

The note departs slowly, sadly,

waiting while a cloud changes shape,

something almost promised.

The eyes cannot hold it,

the ears will not grasp its form

yet the heart remembers it well

as a wind tearing a map

from the fingers, watching it

blowing away, not chasing it.

[Originally published in NHS 2001, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs01/rixon.html.]