And Johnny Played Charlie Parker
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By PoppyS
- 2647 reads
I hear another City
where the tones of the cobbles collide in abstract lingo
as black and white bodies
dance away their evenings fill.
Was it you father dear
who taught me how to expose a beat that played out
note for note - like some over wound gramophone.
We would watch
as the ladies danced away their melancholy
already regretting their miserably made
back street marriages.
Or maybe it was simply the resurgence
of Johnny and all his jazz
milking his talent for a dime, performing
a much loved Charlie Parker tune.
The problem is, I can no longer recall the realities
only the vagaries of what was - back then!
I can’t even hear the music
that you played anymore.
How I wish we had kept your clarinet
but it fetched a good price
and we really did need the money
after your untimely death.
Oh sure
mother could hold a tune in her head
but who did she ever inspire
resentment being more, her juke-box style.
Yet, I think you knew that didn’t you
as I’d like to think that you and I are somewhat alike
Both of us permitting only, the music to penetrate
our long lost conversation.
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Comments
Memory winds round this like
Memory winds round this like a Charlie Parker tune. Very evocative, yearning yet with dry observation.
Just a point - is it meant to be jute box or juke box? I'm not sure if I'm missing something!
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This lovely, evocative poem
This lovely, evocative poem is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day! Please share/retweet if you've enjoyed it too.
Picture: https://tinyurl.com/ydy87szs
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Lovely piece, PoppyS.
Lovely piece, PoppyS.
Music is life.
Parson Thru
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