CHET BAKER SUMMER SKETCH
In the city of Bologna
There’s a jazz club bears his name
So – typically of course –
He never played there
Preferring one without a gaudy sign
That mainly served spaghetti –
A summer concert in the square
Returning there for supper
He drew a portrait sketch upon the menu
One continuous line
In the manner of Matisse or Cocteau or
Chet Baker when he circles a white space
In notes of calm allusive beauty –
Whose is this suggested face at peace
They promptly framed to hang upon a wall?
Might it be a somnolent
Self-sabotaging angel
Sleepwalking fame’s absurd fast-burning tightrope?
2.
LUCCA
One day soon he will settle in Lucca –
A small house with a garden
A music room of course and in the cool
Spring evening it shall be pleasant
Wandering piazza to piazza
To sit at café tables with a few
Understanding and forgiving friends
Someday soon when the fever breaks
Of crossing borders concert to concert
Festivals to cash-in-hand recordings
From dealers in hard drugs to hardened doctors
Substituting methadone with cautions
Driving overnight without a break
All to play one T.V. slot in Oslo –
Someday soon he’ll stay at home in Lucca
No last-minute sound-check to insist
‘I always play softly – I always sit down’
One day soon he will settle in Lucca
There is a quiet music to the phrase
Eternally assuring and enchanting
For high on uncut heroin
Every town is Lucca
Bernard Saint