They Write By Night: The One That Got Away

He wears high-draped pants
Stripes are really yellow
He wears high-draped pants
Stripes are really yellow
But when he starts in to love me
He is so fine and mellow

While listening to Lory Bedikian’s poem, which is about listening — “What It’s Like Listening to Lester Young” — best to have tenor saxophonist Lester Young playing in the background, “Fine and Mellow,” with Billie Holiday doing the vocals. We would’ve played it if we had the rights. But without the rights, we try introducing some of those notes to the show and an algorithm hunts us down and rubs us out.

“The One That Got Away” delivers a lot for your money, plus, it’s free. It’s got comments about recent sociopolitical events, including the Bad and the Ugly; the noir poem about a near score or near miss; some soon-to-prove fatal meetings from three pairs of film noir lovers. And — a first: I read a verse from the Bible. And why not? The Bible’s dark. Dark, dark, dark. Most of the protagonists get killed or die horribly and only one dead person comes back. No, two.  I forgot about Lazarus. The Bible’s not Noir, though. It predates Noir. It’s an antecedent.

— Suzanne Lummis

Top image credit to www.Poetry.LA

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