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photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
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Beyond the Sun
Nostalgia
it’s the feeling that brought us here
a bit of joy / sweet glide to a hallowed space
and Fats Navarro is already here
infinitely boppin’ on a riff /speaking some
Spanish / so meticulous! / we speed up
to greet you / we bone up on the blues
and live true to you / Fats Navarro!
immaculate trumpeter
just swinging / flying! / in 26 trips
around the sun to a hallowed space
where each note has a point
and a purpose
Nostalgia
melodic/ expressive
cascading notes in a hipper-than-thou club
no wasted notes! / just the warmth and the
grace where no one can out-swing you
Fats Navarro!
if we remember
to call it “modern music”
can we bebop with you on a note
that glides beyond the sun?
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Connie Johnson is a Los Angeles, CA-based Pushcart Prize nominee whose poetry has appeared in Jerry Jazz Musician, San Pedro River Review, Cholla Needles, Rye Whiskey Review, Glint Literary Journal, Iconoclast, Sport Literate, Exit 13, and Writing in a Woman’s Voice. Everything is Distant Now (Blue Horse Press), her debut poetry collection, is available on Amazon.
Click here to read the Jerry Jazz Musician-published In a Place of Dreams: Connie Johnson’s album of jazz poetry, music, and life stories
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Listen to the 1947 recording of Fats Navarro playing Tadd Dameron’s composition “Our Delight” [Universal Music Group]
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Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem
Click here to read “A Collection of Jazz Poetry – Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition”
Click here to read “Not From Around Here,” Jeff Dingler’s winning story in the 66th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
Click here for information about how to submit your poetry or short fiction
Click here to subscribe to the (free) Jerry Jazz Musician quarterly newsletter
Click here to help support the ongoing publication of Jerry Jazz Musician, and to keep it commercial-free (thank you!)
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