Broken D Key

Your mother-in-law is late tonight
and the club is quite empty
except for the laughter of two
high-heeled young women
who have trouble standing straight tonight
though for what they lack in poise or tact tonight
they make up for in wild applause
This is the noise of love
in its childing way
The stage’s red velvet hangs loose
above tapping feet
A new couple enters in shadows
between songs
they are stooping
laughing to themselves
because they’re too tall for this joint
(everyone is)
and the glass clink of drinks
moving up and down
side to side
table to table
mouth to mouth
is low tonight
and the music doesn’t yell tonight
it swings and sways
like this grey pair and their cross-armed grandson
in the brown booth seats
in the lowly light
of the bar tonight
who sit near the front
because Grandma’s sight
isn’t what it was
And though, tonight, she has to squint
in the dark of the eve
she likes to watch the faces
of the six slouching boys on stage
as they play a gentle and stirring tune
of saxes and drums and guitars too
that make her dream the moment off
or wish that the warm basement
had a window
with a clear view of the moon
as she remembers
decades’ worth of love-filled Junes