Jazzing it up in the Patti Pavilion, 1962
by Robert Nisbet
Events sec, wispy-bearded Will,
had hired the Patti for the summer dance,
toiling in his smoky bedroom
on paperwork, assurances
for licensing authorities.
The caretaker, a grumpy sod,
was known in town as Bum-face.
Will needed to cajole him,
damn near bribe, to fix the bogs in time.
The band was local, Gilfach Goch,
the clarinets and drum kit in a dirty van.
From nine we started to arrive
and it seemed to us like a huge rose opening,
a plenty’s horn, the jazz, the joy,
the skip jive, bare feet pattering,
the scattering in light and sound
of love and sensibility.
This poem appears in Robert Nisbet’s recently-published collection Robeson, Fitzgerald and Other Heroes
__________
Robert Nisbet is a Welsh poet who lives just 30 miles along the coast from Dylan Thomas’s Boathouse. Although he does not see himself as unduly competitive, he has just won the Prole Pamphlet Competition with Robeson, Fitzgerald and Other Heroes from which ‘The Ella Fitzgerald Song Book’ is taken. It is available from the publisher at www.prolebooks.co.uk
A great variety and a splendid collection of jazz
Gorgeous poem, Patricia! So much richness in so few words.
To bring from the lips to the ear or the fingers to the ear and into the body so much of life and love is such a fine thing that the poet and the musician have married here that all we can do that is celebrate and hallelujah.
I’m very happy to be part of such a fine collection. I particularly enjoyed Michael Newell’s ‘Vintage Inn ..’ and Lawrence Koumas’s lovely little anecdote.
This collection has too many good poems and poets to acknowledge every poem and every poet worthy of attention. I will, therefore, single out a handful of poets who moved me deeply. The list would include Gannon Daniels, Robert Nisbet, Susana Case, Dan Franch, Patricia Carragon, John Stupp, and Aurora Lewis. If I went back and reread all the poems for a fourth or fifth time, I would likely expand this list considerably. I tip my hat to all the fine artists in this collection, and I thank Joseph Maita for putting all these fine poems together in such an appealing way.
Michael,
I especially like the way the way the two settings, outside and inside the Inn in the first poem, as in these lines:
outside the night is filled
with cigarette smoke lightning
and Lithia Creek swirling over rocks
In the second poem, I hear the music playing in the background of the second poem.
I am pleased that I was able to participate in a poetry writing event which includes the deeply felt emotions of jazz music and love and its individual expressions in form and format. I will read these with great pleasure. This idea to showcase it on Valentines date was terrific.