reality

 

 

on Earth, no more life

in sleeping pods, dreaming this

already on Mars

what is jazz?

       I

jazz

the most American of art forms

the will to play together

an argument

with the attempt

to work something out

   

-         Wynton Marsalis

 

      II

somebody tried to kill it

I know who it was

somebody brought over British musicians

to cover us over

just like a blanket

-         Abbey Lincoln

 

      III

the first album I bought

not under the auspices of my older sister

was the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl

a rip-off of a rip-off

a band-aid over a blanket

 

       IV

my friend threw me a life preserver

jazz was a linking of hearts

a community of two, we had

jammed on fakebook favorites

a new door opening

another hanging in the balance

 

      V

watching Ken Burns jazz, episode 10

assassinations and wars

Viet Nam, MLK, JFK, Medgar Evers

the war on America’s blacks

footage of regime police

beating them back

Mingus, Roach, Art Ensemble of Chicago

the boom-boom-buh-boom of the heart

weeping, screaming soundtrack

a wound to heal us

but first, to tear us apart