The Rhythm of the Blues by Taylor Mallay

The Rhythm of the Blues

She pushes a pink pin
across the table; it reads,
Groupies wanted,
no experience necessary.
I laugh, now knowing
she noticed me, my gaze
going soft over her body
against that steel-stringed guitar,
the bar’s blue lights blessing
the smooth precision
of her steady rhythm.
She smiles, says softly,
Aren’t you just aching
to be taken
by someone like me?
And perhaps it’s the gin
or the way my skin thrums
to the hum of her strumming,
but I breathe in
and open my hand, sighing
the moment her fingers slide
like a long-held note
into mine.

*

Taylor Mallay is a proud Michigander who enjoys tinkering away with poems here and there. Her work has previously appeared in Chestnut Review, The Dewdrop, and West Trade Review, among other publications.