BJZ Poems and Musings

You are never quite sure as you slip the ring on your partner’s finger how it is all going to turn out. Forty-one plus years into our adventure, Dana and I can reflect on all the phases of a special journey. As grandparents we see the joy that our kids and their spouses have when they get that “night out”, temporarily free from immersion and demands of those little angels. This poem was initially written in 2001 when our kids were beyond toddler stage, but the same feelings applied – a night out, just the two of us. We went to a trendy new club in Ann Arbor called the Cavern Club. Got perhaps a bit tipsy over dinner, and then – well, it’s described in the poem.

Dancing at the Cavern Club

My wife, my date – we had dinner and some catch up conversation,
And drank an irrational lot of beverages, blurring our profiles;
Nurse, doctor, small kids, babysitter, night out!

We walked briskly toward the Cavern Club,
Elbows tucked in – cold, late October night;
The doorman didn’t ask for I.D. – and we knew who we were.

Meandering through the young crowd, toward the music;
A good band – energetic, talented, the kind you needn’t remember;
Then – we were dancing at the Cavern Club!

She had on brown, shiny leather pants
That reminded me of a fancy saddle,
And a cream-colored cable knit, sleeveless top
That displayed her sculpted shoulders, deft biceps,
And strong chest.

Her hair was red and full, and appeared
Slightly illegal. The music was not so much
Mesmerizing as immense; her body was
Sucking it up, converting it to motion –
Swaying, swinging, spinning,

A delicious rhythm blending power and pulse.
And I was just there – slaying movement,
But was carried in her wake, and
We were dancing at the Cavern Club!

The smells were of sweat, and stale cigarette smoke,
And exhaled alcohol vapors, and Boucheron;
The shapes were mostly circles which began
To bump my angular form, and then softened
The lines and edges until I felt loose, and less Presbyterian.

We were at once revolving, rotating, orbiting –
I had to close my eyes, became night blind.
Her lips brushed my cheek,
Her breath was condensing on my neck;
The bass guitar was palpitating in my chest;
The horn reverberating in my skull –
We were dancing at the Cavern Club!

Who knows how long it went on,
But some small doses of reality started to creep in;
A bit of aching from tendonitis in the knee;
A bit of yawning at the end of a day that started at dawn;
Thoughts of three kids at home, and patients to tend tomorrow;
So we left just when everyone else was heating up.

The next day I could still feel pounding in my head,
But it was not musical. I was listening to an old man’s chest,
Thinking about how to best treat tachycardia with
Concomitant congestive heart failure – I had a brief
Flashback, and he must have puzzled to see me smile that way –
We were dancing at the Cavern Club!

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