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photograph and painting by  Jules Grandgagnage / CC BY-SA

 

Portrait of the Belgian jazz saxophonist Jack Sels, 2013

 

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living (we’ll get through)

 

the rhythmic flow
that trills and travels—
a saxophone
exploring sound—

the making time
to trace each riff,
watching it wander
all around

and meeting music
everywhere,
from walking bass
to blues, twelve-bar,

for singing in
the key of wonder
all along
this boulevard

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___

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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). In 2018 she left the masthead of an academic quarterly to work with people who want to share their stories, ideas, and poems in print. Her poem, “Mother Tongue,” received an honorable mention in the 2020 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. Felicia lives with her family in Flemington, New Jersey. Find her online, with links to recent publications, at. www.feliciachernesky.com

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Chet Baker plays “Alone Together,” from his 1959 album Chet, featuring Pepper Adams on baritone sax and Herbie Mann on flute.

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