Nick Drake, The Handsome Fox
Nick Drake, Singer-Songwriter (1948-1974)
(For Vera)
You’re the only musician I know
who sang songs
as if you didn’t want
anyone to hear you.
You are the fox,
who in his gallantry,
waits until night,
not to bark or howl,
but to scream.
The audience does not know you dreamt about them last night.
They look exactly like they did in your dream.
You see the guns bulging under their dresses.
The record companies don’t know
what it’s like
to be held
against your will
on stage
singing songs
to your executioners.
The fox dies
hidden in the brush
heard only by the hunters
who don’t really listen anyway.
Where can you hide on this stage?
Maybe you can sing yourself
into invisibility,
oh gallant fox!
A couple more performances
like this
and they’ll stop
showing up.
Which is what you really wanted
all along.
The music will once again
belong to the corner of your room
and childhood,
near the poster of the hunt
and the fox who runs away
in silence.
About the Author: Chris Pellizzari is a poet from Illinois. His work has appeared in Hobart, Gone Lawn, Slipstream, SoFloPoJo, Not One of Us, Counterclock, BoomerLitMag, Ligeia, and many other places. He is a member of The Society of Midland Authors. Pellizzari often writes about the gay poet Federico Garcia Lorca, who was murdered by Fascists in Granada, Spain in 1936. He thinks Lorca has a lot to say to today’s America regarding compassion and acceptance.
Image Credit: Digitally altered image of a public domain photo of Nick Drake. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
As It Ought To Be 
