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photo of Sarah Vaughan at the Cafe Society, c. 1946, by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress

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Sarah

Jazz divinity
The Divine One on hot, fevered wings
That fly east of the sun and west of
The moon

Voluptuous
Pulled taffy, the oozing of
The honey; you are the tinkling ice,
The gin and the bitterness of the tonic

Sassy in this rarified atmosphere
You curse like a sailor; you carry
Your own bags

Fabled vibrato
Not strictly a singer,
An instrumentalist! Approaching tunes
Like Trane, Dizzy or Bird, your voice a
Horn that could deconstruct a melody:

“there are notes between notes,
you know…”

Onstage
Or in the booth
Avant-garde contralto
Jumping octaves; divine
Ever ready to perform miracles
On the mic; divine

Booked studio time
Or in the twilight hours of the
Three Deuces, the Onyx Club
& Café Society

Got you feeling
Legendary; flatted fifths
Soaring, ever soaring, be it
East of the sun or west
Of the moon!
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Connie Johnson is an L.A.-based writer who turns to poets like Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, and Audre Lorde when she needs a little inspiration. And she agrees with Clifton who said: “Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.”  Johnson’s poems have appeared or will be forthcoming in Iconoclast, Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Jerry Jazz Musician, San Pedro River Review, Shot Glass Journal, Voicemail Poems, Misfit Magazine, Mudfish 23, Cholla Needles, Exit 13, Glint Literary Journal, Rye Whiskey Review and Door Is a Jar.

Click here to read In a Place of Dreams: Connie Johnson’s album of jazz poetry, music, and life stories

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Listen to the 1949 recording of Sarah Vaughan performing Brooks Bowman’s composition “East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)” [Columbia/Legacy]

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Click here to read The Sunday Poem

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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Jerry Jazz Musician…human produced (and AI-free) since 1999

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