“Jazz Cycle”…poems by deb Ewing

July 11th, 2023

obviousness

…though there’s something to be said
for flirting by absence
empty space where the pass should have been
conspicuously left vacant by all involved

in jazz composition
everybody knows where the one is
even when nobody chooses to play it

if the space is quiet enough
you can hear blood racing

everybody knows where the one is

i wait

like the most esoteric
wind against a curve of strings

everyone leans into the bass
sway and shake but baby

i wait

that communal pause o my brothers
back up inhale a watch and see

eyes closed either I step
to the reed or choke on a melody

…………………………………….cool breeze over dry grass beneath soft soft
…………………shaded breath abated our minds in kind and the wind
…………………………………………………………………………the wind the wind…if

i wait
you might not stick around

i wish i knew
…….my dear I wish I knew

I wish I knew, my dear, I wish I knew

a ribbon of smoke between
………………………..7 and 4
………………….a ¾ note
and the embouchure
mourning
………………where are you now
somewhere my love

………….and you and I and clouds and ether
………….viruses, choruses, both, neither
………….if I inhale will I taste your name
………….will you lodge in my lung
………….your letters remain
………….things in the air

the end of a line caries
…………………….its own music
a soft crumbling of alley
………………….clarinet notes stumble
against brick
that cold peeling backstage
……………..exit closes

stepping under high-pressure
…………………..sodium streetlamps

things in the air

softly softly
……………..metal on skin
……………..brushing
………………………………..anticipation
…………………….hangs
…………..between
spotlight and sky
you and I

……………at the end of the stage
……………a chrysalis cracks
……………a flat flank
……………around reverberation

brass angel take wing
hard skin left to lie
we don’t mind the crime just
listen to the wind
……………………………..the wind the wind

we can crawl back to our shells
…………once they stop rattling

we don’t mind the crime

there is music
in
…….the obviousness of traffic
…………….tempos catching a fast exit
…………………………………………………….in

the punctuation
of a red bird
to blue window-pane
………………………..stormy weather

……………………………..when I think of you now
……………………………………..I think of your skin
………………………………….this wasn’t always so
…………………….once memorized your tongue
……………………………………..every shift and roll

your mind
turning over
a filament glow
…………………the electricity
…………………………..crackles

___

deb Ewing is still doing all the same old things: peer-reviewing for Consilience Science-based Poetry Journal, typesetting for Igneus Press, painting tiny things on coins, the usual. Her mission statement remains “Art is War.” You might find deb’s short sci-fi at Coffin Bell Journal in July, or her physical person at FAR-West 2023 in Woodland Hills, CA, in October. Follow @DebsValidation on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to the 1968 recording of Chick Corea playing “The Law of Falling and Catching Up” [Universal Music Group]