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Jazz in Winter 2

Remember when
the music saved
your life?

It’s different now.

Snow chills and hope,
like the rhythm section,
is subdued.

Who can riff
about tomorrow
in this cacophony?

I can’t find
the trumpet line,
and sax is soulless
when piano fingers
freeze.

And then I hear
my teenage son
singing in

the key of Ella

and I am thawed
by this lush
sustaining truth:

snows melt, we fade,
but the music plays
forever—

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Felicia Sanzari Chernesky is a longtime editor, slowly publishing poet, and author of six picture books, including  From Apple Trees to Cider, Please!  and  The Boy Who Said Nonsense  (Albert Whitman & Company). In 2018 she moved away from the masthead to work with people who want to share their stories, ideas, and poems in print. Her poetry received a 2020 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards honorable mention. Her short fiction was nominated for a 2021 Pushcart and Best Microfiction. She lives with her family in Flemington, New Jersey. Find her online at  www.feliciachernesky.com. 

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The photo accompanying this poem is of the poet’s son Toby.  He is pictured here performing during a 2021 music event in Flemington, New Jersey.  

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Listen to the 1955 recording of Ella Fitzgerald singing “Angel Eyes”

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Ms. Chernesky’s poem “Jazz In Winter” was published by Jerry Jazz Musician in the Winter Collection of Jazz Poetry, 2020, which can be viewed by clicking here.

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Click here for information about how to submit your poetry

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