Con Chapman

Cigarettes and Celery

I survived, she said,
on cigarettes and celery 
all those years, it seems.
And coffee too. And
wine, she added candidly, 
as if to give a full account
and not shade the truth.

By then she’d passed a
dancer’s age and talk
had taken the place of
movement.  She wore me
out with questions, none of
which had ever occurred to me.
I was put in the dock, examined.

Then, having found me to be
a credible witness, my testimony
consistent and true, she took off
her clothes, took me by the
hand and led me to my own bed.



Con Chapman's work has appeared in The Atlantic and The Christian Science Monitor, among other publications. He is the author of “Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges” (Oxford University Press), and the forthcoming “Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good” (Equinox Publishing).