I also particularly liked this poem by Larry Jaffe on the Poets' Corner, if
you wish to read further there is one on Ella Fitzgerald
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=Content&pa=list_pages_categories&cid=27
:
*Miles Showed Me His Trumpet*
**
Miles Davis lived around the block from me
deep in the upper west side of Manhattan island.
He played like one man could be an island
living for his horn that paid his daily bread
living in this house made of gingerbread, on
West 77th Street while I lived on West 76th.
I would see him every now and again going
into that brownstone that his horn built.
— — I got to meet miles
Walked round the block, walked round
the clock where Miles stood outside his
homestead just proud as peacock.
He told me how much he liked San Francisco women
because their bottoms were so round not flat
from riding subways all days, he said with smile.
Nudging me, guy hood joke "You know what I mean."
We went inside past the New York façade
into his musical domain —
headquarters for lonely horn players
The purity of Miles' trumpet leans into me
he sings it blue. My eyes tear uncontrollably.
He has touched melodies that riff with magic,
I escape ego with this horn. It is evolution of life
in notes counterpoint. My fingers feel broken,
wanting to make the same sounds with words
— that staccato lip thing that merges horn with man.
— Miles showed me his trumpet
in this house of sugar coated dreams.
When I was a kid I dreamed of playing trumpet
but I wore braces on my teeth… they said I would
cut my lips to ribbons and bleed on my horn.
I looked up with tears and thought Miles,
Miles always bleeds on his horn
(c) 1999-2003 lgjaffe
On 2/12/07, TheOldMole <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> WITH MILES
>
>
>
> Trane would start a solo
>
> an hour later
>
> still
>
> be playing
>
> Miles said
>
> why so long
>
> Trane said
>
> that was how long it took
>
>
>
>
>
> Herbie told Miles
>
> I don't know what to play no more
>
> Miles said
>
> don't play nothing
>
>
>
> Herbie sat with
>
> his
>
> hands in
>
> his lap
>
> the
>
> whole number
>
> up for
>
> one
>
> sound
>
> back to the lap
>
>
>
> Miles said
>
> that sound was a bitch
>
>
>
>
>
> Mtume wanted Miles
>
>
>
> like a martial arts master
>
> who splits an apple
>
> on a guy's throat
>
> without touching the throat
>
>
>
> to play a whole concert
>
> just below the
>
> threshold of sound
>
>
>
>
>
> Don't knock free
>
> what it finds
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Douglas Barbour" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 11:10 AM
> Subject: Re: What famous poets have you met or seen read in person?
>
>
> >I think Miles Davis talked about the silences being as important as
> > the notes? Certainly, if a poet puts spaces in, they're meant to be
> > 'heard'; at least, mine are.... And I'd sure think Oppen's are, too....
> >
> > Doug
> > On 11-Feb-07, at 8:13 AM, Joanna Boulter wrote:
> >
> >> I think people are on the whole afraid to read spaces -- maybe they
> >> think the audience will assume they've finished. I reckon it's very
> >> like the rests in music -- musicians, singers in particular, use this
> >> sort of lifted silence which carries through to the next sounded note.
> >> If you don't let the tension go yourself, always holding in mind where
> >> it is you're going, your audience stays with you. Works perfectly well
> >> with words too.
> >>
> >> joanna
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Cudmore"
> >> <[log in to unmask]>
> >> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 2:41 PM
> >> Subject: Re: What famous poets have you met or seen read in person?
> >>
> >>
> >>> We had that Peter Nicholls from Sussex give a paper on George Oppen's
> >>> 'The
> >>> Book of Job and a Draft of a Poem to Praise the Paths of the Living' a
> >>> couple of months ago. It began with Nicholls reading the poem in
> >>> question,
> >>> having first circulated the text. What struck me is that he
> >>> (Nicholls) read
> >>> the words, but not the spaces. Perhaps it's a bit like that old
> >>> Egyptian
> >>> 'secret name': any fool can read the words, but only the author can
> >>> read the
> >>> spaces?
> >>>
> >>> (It was a fascinating paper, and is a marvellous poem, btw)
> >>>
> >>> P
> >>>
> >>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to
> >>>> poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> >>>> Behalf Of Joanna Boulter
> >>>> Sent: 11 February 2007 13:23
> >>>> To: [log in to unmask]
> >>>> Subject: Re: What famous poets have you met or seen read in person?
> >>>>
> >>>> There is an unarguable extra dimension given by the voice and
> >>>> personality of the poet. But I haven't yet sussed out if
> >>>> there's any permanent effect on the poetry in those sad cases
> >>>> where the poet happens to be a bad reader of his/her own work.
> >>
> >>
> > Douglas Barbour
> > 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> > Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> > (780) 436 3320
> > http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >
> > Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> > http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >
> >
> > The stars wheel over
> > The Cross drops its image
> > Into the watertank.
> >
> > David Campbell
> >
>
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