Jazz Poetry Lives: A Gathering of 21st-Century American Jazz Poems

Jazz Poetry Lives:

A Gathering of 21st-Century

American Jazz Poems

written in response to jazz music & poetry from across the decades

Edited by Dr. Carmella Braniger Millikin University

Graphic Art by Ladapa Chalermnon

Section 1: Always This Good

“Falling Like” by Tabitha Barowsky

A response to Almost Like Being in Love by Dionisio D

Sometimes, I still see the shadows

Loosely lingering, lost in my mind

On the walls and on the ceiling

Whispers of whatever comes from within

Winter clothes not worn all summer

All velvet and all blues

Tonight I am telling you, tonight I am showing you

Everywhere, every time, everything

Remember when it was always this good?

Martinez

Response to Skating in Central Park by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Just you, Just me, Jesse Greer

by D’Anthony Hopkins

Just you, just me, Together we will be, Like a perfect melody, In sweet harmony

Our love will never fade, Through sunshine and through shade, Side by side we'll wade, Through life's serenade

Response to Giant Steps, John Coltrane

by Evan Borneman

Poem for Giant Steps:

Fast chord changes move at the speed of sound

The wailing saxophone spews eighths

Drums swing in a tang

Oh listen to that player sang

Giant leaps and steps take control

Keys played by a hand that rolls

Giant steps bring a sound to life

Giant steps bring people round all alike

Response to I’ll Look Around by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Strange Fruit by

Ladapa Chalermnon

Response to Fly Me to the Moon by D’Anthony Hopkins

In the quiet of the night, With stars shining so bright, I yearn to spread my wings, And soar to faraway things

Fly me to the silver sphere, Where secrets whisper in my ear, And mysteries are waiting to be found, In the beauty that surrounds

Response to Ask Me Now by

Rebekah Kauffmann

Dishes clink, forks scrape bottoms of plates. Coffee in hand, I prepare for the day.

One sip – My eyes perk open

Two sips – my spirit rises.

Hands clasp around the warm ceramic cup

Sapping up the warmth for the day ahead

Leaving the coffee shop, the door clings behind.

Beckoning the new day to rise

Response to Ruben, Ruben by Alex Araiza

We’ve lost a son

So young and promising

A brown berry so sweet and complete

Don’t fill your mind with sorrow he says

We all have sorrow

But you need to focus on tomorrow

So play the music great enough to bring back the music, Jazz, comes in

Response to I’ll look around by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Variation of a Sonnet on Eight for Ornette’s Music

by D’Anthony Hopkins

When pain exceeds the difference, All color fades to grey, Melodies turn to mournful tunes And sweet perfumes decay

The witch of question torments, While lips of submission plea, But hope flows like a mossy spring, And love sets the heart free

The teacher of splendor guides, Through birth, trust, and love's reign, As time turns like tables, And souls sleep in blissful plain

But as fire turns to falling powder, And the hearth of blood grows still, The universe proclaims its own will, On far-off red double stars, until.

So when pain exceeds the difference, And the heart sinks in despair, Let love and hope light the way, To a future that's bright and fair.

Section 2: I Hear the Music

Through the bar door – a response to Jazzonia by Langston Hues

by Rebekah Kauffmann

I hear music

Reverberating through the moon filled street

Through a bar door

I hear a forgotten tune A song of brass and untuned piano My soul lifts with the music’s swell

Oh, how far

Oh, how long I have waited

To once again feel these chords Of a youth gone by Reminds me of A freedom never known again

Oh, how far

Oh, how long I have waited

To hear velvet tunes Of the long-lost cabaret

Response

by Evan

Borneman

Response to Like the Movies

by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Heart to Heart, Mac Demarco by D’Anthony Hopkins

Within the chords of "Heart to Heart", Lies a longing that tears apart

A search for connection and release, A path to inner peace

Mac DeMarco's voice a soft caress, Leading us through a wilderness With each note, we feel the heat, Of emotions we can't delete

“Poem For Hideaway” by Evan Borneman

A response to Woke Up Today, Jacob

Waking up today

Joyful and jolly

In my imagination

I hear your calling

In this crazy old world

Filled with billions

You have found me

You want to be with me

Collier

Response to Shimmy Shimmy Walk by

Rebekah Kauffmann

Walking along the steady riverside a train goes by I hear it rumble and feel its beat. The sun is how but my soul is cool

My feet go one step in front of the other

Never stumbling,never a trip

I follow the dusty path to my home

Response to Mr. Groove, Euge Groove by D’Anthony Hopkins

Rhythm pulsing through my veins, Funky beat to ease my pains, Saxophone notes that rise and fall, Dancing to the groove, I surrender all

Melodies that set my heart ablaze, Electric energy in every phase, Moving to the music, feeling alive, Mr. Groove, you make my soul thrive.

“Wandering Melody” by Taiylor and Dhanika

A response to The Journey

Three of us gathered

As the journey started

Rowing, like painting an empty canvas, As we take music with us

Emersed with the music

Like notes floating in the ocean

The lady sang with a lyric

With a voice so sweet and elegant

Running out of moonlight

Oh sweet stars we see

A night so young

And so caught up in the moment

The sounds so soothing

Almost stopped me from feeling the breeze

Oh what a journey

Or maybe a journey that is yet to be

“Missing

by Connor Edwards A Response to Almost Blue

You”

If the world shined brightly it’d shine like you, your eternal radiance

shimmering and gleaming forever and ever, star-shines, every morning sunrise

and oceans surface cascades longing, every light, the distant memory’s echo.

This is the memory to all you are, cruelly retained,

the ease life would have without the memories we had memories

like tattoos paint the surface of my mind keeping you and all your grief held close

like right before the end, and you’re talking like anything

saying oh how I’ll be missing you

Response to I Don’t Want to Set The World on Fire

By Dhanika Therese Taruc

Section 3: Here’s Our Night

“Little Big Band” by Connor Edwards

A response to the poem “Ol’ Bunk’s Band”

Here’s the night The chill, the wind, the rain

Drizzling, ring out, ring out! The ring of cymbals freshly set

Clink, clink! The patrons glasses, the sharp mellow glasses

Present and then gone, a light homely tone

Dim, dim! The lights overhead shining down, glaring like the eyes of the viewers

Here’s the night!

One, Two! The count-off begins!

Thumping bass, low tones washing beneath Screaming brass

Breaking through, weaving by mumbling crowds Ring, Sing, Sign, Line, Lines, Lines felt in the depths of our instruments Running deep, playing out, This is us, here’s our night

Response to Valentine by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Fly Me to the Moon, Bart Howard by Nate Dampier

Let me stay right here on earth, my feet planted firm in the dirt. No rocket ships, no lunar dreams, just the familiar sound of quiet things

No weightlessness, no endless space, just the comfort of a familiar place No distant star, no cosmic view, just the simplicity of life anew

The world so vast and full of wonder, why venture to a distant yonder? Let me stay grounded in my home, where I can breathe and freely roam

“Double Time” by Connor Edwards A response to Touching the Past

Millikin University, 2020, Here was a time changing beneath me, Old enough to grasp the future,

Had the world allowed I never knew Where my road headed, Sometimes I don’t now.

The current moving in double time, Carrying the world faster than I could keep up. Sinking below the waves of opportunity

I reminisce on days before me Unknowing of how few have past, Time seemed much longer then.

The current ebbs and flows beneath me, Changing tides carry forward with or without me, Moving on with the double time

“To Love and Lose” by

Connor Edwards

A response to Autumn Leaves, Joseph Kosma

Loss, A constant for us all.

Love, To some the best thing to find The leaves of Autumn fall every year, A constant all on their own Swathes of color, Painting the ground like a canvas.

Loss, Better to be held as memories, than left like the leaves of fall.

Love,

Better to have been had and then lost, Than never felt at all

Response to My Way by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response by Nate Dampier

Lights shine bright, In the evening sky, Crowds of people, You in my arms, all I need, Just you and me, My darling Kansas city, I took her with me, And there we met So many, the night, still young She spoke through my tongue But all good things must come to an end, Let's go home, So I'll leave you to Sleep, And dream of the sweet seductive Summers season, Just you and Me

Response to At the Five Spot

by Taiylor and Dhanika

Section 4: Keep It Playing

“Keep Playing Your Song” by Jermaine Cortez Woods Jr. A Response to Reuben, Reuben

Pain has replaced your presence

Soul filled with agony as I play your favorite song

Head nodding, babies crying

Don’t turn it off

Silence is like toothpicks to the heart

Keep it playing

Let the 808 thump to my heartbeat

Each hit is a memory of you

Keep it going

Lyrics and my soul harmonize in contradiction

If only you were here

But for now keep playing your song

Response to It Could Happen to You by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Solitude, Billie Holiday by D’Anthony Hopkins

In the depths of solitude, you may feel lost, But remember that the stars shine brightest in the darkest of nights. You are not alone, for the universe sings your name, Whispering sweet nothings to your heart, igniting your flame

In the midst of solitude's dark embrace, It's easy to feel lost in a sea of empty space

But like a diamond buried deep in the earth, Your soul shines bright with immeasurable worth

Response to Nature Boy, Eden Ahbez by Logan Mulholland

Untitled

Unforgettable, Unforgettable, Unforgettable

The song, the life, the land

Belonging is a place to be Belonging is not just for me

Belonging sings a song just like you and me On the land where we are free

Response to Strange Fruit by Vivian King

Response to Afro Blue, Mongo Santamaria by D’Anthony Hopkins

Beneath a sky of deepest blue, Rhythms pulse and beats renew, Melodies that weave and sway, Like leaves in wind, they dance and play.

From every note a story told, Of love, of life, of mysteries old, Echoes of voices, past and present, In harmony, their spirits ascent

Response

to My Way

by Nate Dampier

The song speaks of a life well-lived, Of taking chances and never giving in. Of standing tall and facing the fray, And living life just your own way.

The jazz beats and the trumpet's sound, Add to the song's beauty that's so profound. It's a timeless classic that we all know, And its message will continue to glow

So let's raise a glass and toast to life, To all its ups and downs, its joy and strife. And let this song be our guide each day, To live life to the fullest, our own way

Falling Like: poem to Charlie Parker by Tabitha

Barowsky

A response to Almost Like Being in Love by Dionisio D Martinez

Sometimes, I still see the shadows

Loosly lingering, lost in my mind

On the walls and on the ceiling

Whispers of whatever come from within Winter clothes not worn all summer

All velvet and all blues

Tonight I am telling you, tonight I am showing you Everywhere, every time, everything Remember when it was always this good?

“The Site” by Mychale Gary

A response to “Chasing The Bird” by Robert

The sea strikes the site as evenly to The eye

The sea has more than one life

Slowly descending to the depths

You fall more in love with the view Each day and night

The view of the sea can never Leave my site.

Creeley

Response to We’ll Meet Again by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Section 5: Troubles Take Flight

“Life” by Mychale Gary

A response to WE REAL COOL by

A PERSON WHO ENJOYS LIFE UNDER A TREE

Life is heavy Life

Can’t carry. Life

Is short Life No abort. Life

Is new Life Is you. Life

With lies Life That dies.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Response to I’m in The Mood for Love by Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to Sweet Georgia Brown, Ben Bernie by

Sweet Georgia Brown, oh how sweet

A tune that dances from your feet

A rhythm that swings, a melody divine

A jazz classic, that's stood the test of time

Response to I’ll Look Around by

Nate Dampier

Dhanika Therese Taruc

Response to There Will Never Be Another You, Harry Warren by

Tabitha Barowsky

You best believe

There will never be another me

Take a good look while I’m still here

I’m soon leaving

Sing me a song to get me to stay

Response to I Just Want to love you, Stanley Clark by Lacharrie Graham

I always got you on my mind boy

I need you, you make me feel good all of the time

Being near you, makes my mind race

You make my mind go crazy

Response to Breakdown of Dark to themselves by Rebekah Kauffmann

My sound is my own

Every broken chord that cracks through the night

Every Dissonance that rattles the ears

This is how my troubles take flight

No matter how ugly

No matter how shrill

My sound is my own

And mine alone

Response to The Cat and the Saxophone by Rebekah Kauffmann

Response to Strange Fruit By Vivian

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swingin’ in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hangin’ from the poplar trees

King

Black mothers pleading for their sons to come home

Not knowing that their sons are already gone And now knowing hate took their babies away They pray to the Gods everyday

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulgin’ eyes and twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh

Black folk packing up and fleeing north

In hopes to give black culture a new rebirth

Response to Missing You by Connor Edwards

If the world shined brightly it’d shine like you, your eternal radiance

shimmering and gleaming for ever and ever, star-shines, every morning sunrise

and oceans surface cascades longing, every light, the distant memory’s echo.

This is the memory to all you are, cruelly retained,

the ease life would have without the memories we had memories

like tattoos paint the surface of my mind keeping you and all your grief held close like right before the end, and you’re talking like anything

saying oh how I’ll be

Response to Dream a Little Dream of Me by Dhanika Therese Taruc