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| © Conrad Knutsen - 1962 Jazz in New York |
neon nights
glowing signs
shocking messages in pinks
luring in phosphorescent greens
those nightheralded fluid blues
rub against you
rising up from gratings
to grab you.
excite your skin while walking
hear that swish and sssh swinging
in new silky nylons
hear that jazz – you’re dancing
while those vibrations
ham-ham-hammering away
set up a rhythm,
brassy, buzzing stirrings that set you
on a goosepimple slinky edge.
evening’s lost to starlight
fills you with excitement of the night
anxiety fills your body
with the rustles of desire
bouncing sounds of movement
lonesome seeking music
thrill you with adventure
the moment’s so intense
Dreamchasings invented
each day by sunlight,
spent tonight by barlight
as you murmur goodnight,
good night
Gay Reiser Cannon * All Rights Reserved
you do have the city on your mind dont you...smiles...and its music...nice....
ReplyDeleteYou know for me it's all about the music!
DeleteOh Brian - you're an amazing writer and reader. How ever do you do it. You're a phenomenon! Thanks. I like this piece and it goes with my new background ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou've really captured the music of the night here, and yes it definitely goes BEAUTIFULLY with your new background.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful write !
ReplyDeleteI hear jazz in this piece!
ReplyDeleteThe sycopation, the mood, the atmosphere.
Wonderful!
This was wonderful - you captured so many telling details here. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt's all good if it's good music and for me some of the VERY best is Jazz - I especially like it cool. The classics - Sonny Rollins, Byrd, Coltrane, Miles, Turentine, Kenny Burrell..yummmm
DeleteI almost started to snap my fingers to the beat. I could hear the music in your words. Great piece!
ReplyDeleteThen my work met its goals. Thank you so much!
Deletethat's exactly how it feels...and you captured the music in this so very well gay...bluesy...jazzy...swinging..ah...i wanna go to a smoky jazz cellar and listen to them all night..
ReplyDeleteWe must meet next time in Berlin or Paris and listen to Jazz there. You take me to your places. I know we love the same thing!
DeleteAll That Jazz...sweet. I'll ask my wife if it o.k. if I go out to the club with you and some other poet friends and tap my feet a while. Nice.
ReplyDeleteOh bring her along, we'll make a party of it - with Brian, Claudia, Hedge and all the crowd - hanging out, tapping our feet, kickin' on back. What joy!
DeleteHam ham hammering away- like drumstick tip on a hi hat- love the neon 'jazz club' imagery I got - and the musicality of the words flowing through the whole piece. This had passion- could feel your love for the music. Jazz is a beast- this makes me want to listen to miles Davis
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was aiming for. Thanks for your kind words!
DeleteEnjoyed this one a lot. Lovely flow and great evocation of the music and atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteI can hear the music as I read. Great pitch you got here!
ReplyDeleteThis is sooooo erotic, Gay~! Beautifully so. the rhythm, the sway of this poem keeps a measured cadence fueled by the heat coming up from that street grate and the swish of new nylons!
ReplyDeleteAh, Gay, your combination of the sensations of rhythm, blues, nylons and the desire that comes from all this together?
Ahhhh. You make me feel young again.
Lady Nyo
Remember how luxurious those 15 denier seamless nylons were? You felt sexy before you knew what sexy was. It made you feel grown up and "aware" even when going to church. The downside was the dread of snags & runs. Some non clumsy people never seemed to get them. Thanks for the appreciation. I remember especially hearing some of the best jazz anywhere when I first came to Dallas at Strictly Taboo which later became the Taboo Room. Glad you could go there with me, Jane. Those were fun times!
DeleteThis is just a beautiful poem to end my poetry reading evening with....a wonderful piece :)
ReplyDeleteI love the rhythm and rhyme of the last stanza...This is music to my ears.
ReplyDeleteGay..I heard every note, every word, every song, the sax, the trumpet, felt the mellow vibes of the bass...smelled the cigarette smoke, felt the sensuality, the beat and rhythm of Jazz New York, Orleans, Paris...all of it. Great write!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear it with you again. I've heard it in all three places and what a joy! Paris is still so real. They seem to get us (that is the U.S.) more than we do. I sense classic jazz is moving in young people's minds into the ranks of Ravel, Debussy, and Satie. But the point to jazz is that it's alive, it's in the moment, it's modern, it changes with its audience, it's call and response, it's not a show, it's true poetry.
DeleteYeah, I heard it, felt it, longed to be there.
ReplyDeleteIt's been to long...
This is a wonderful poem.
Thank you so much for your kind remarks. It's much appreciated..and to everyone else who said so. I'm finally feeling as though I'm beginning to write again. Not every one I post is good, but I'm definitely starting to emerge from my slump. Thanks everyone.
DeleteMannnnnnnnn..... I got a HUGE GRIN on my face! How u used the colours and then I could hear everything as well .... I LOVE JAZZ and this touched me in all the right spots! YAY!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf you drop back by, give me a link to your site. I can't find your name on blenza - but I might be blinded by the increasing numbers! Your comment here made me smile! Thank you
Deletenow your hitting me with some sweet jazz - ticking off my loves here Gay - one at a time... if you do hot chocolate next week that'll be a full house - lol.
ReplyDeletei agree that you've lit it up with colours ablaze - neat job gay - i'll swing by on thurs :)
I do love jazz, can't say there's a lot of it around here...but you really captured a mood...nice!
ReplyDeleteWhere are you? I want to send you some. I'm broadcasting those silky Coltrane sounds your way. Hope you catch 'em.
DeleteAll that Jazz...I don't understand Jazz but, enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDeleteJazz is an American art form. It grew up out of the work songs of the Mississippi Delta, from barrel-house songs in the brothels of Galveston and New Orleans, and from the rhythms imported by slaves and free-men from the Caribbean. It transmuted many times but kept a sort of blues pattern which is still written today as poetry (and significantly by Toni Morrison in her novel Jazz). It is a 3 line stanza with the last two lines being similar but slightly changed. It often has a four line envoi at the end that sums up the song. Through this form and its variations, jazz was born. It was not the only music that came out of these early forms; there was ragtime and more formal blues written by W.C.Handy. But it's home was New Orleans as it became known as Dixieland Jazz, shortly after moving up the Mississippi River to Natchez and more significantly Memphis where he transmuted again. It went west to Kansas City where it got hotter and it went to Chicago where it got smarter, very smart and where classical musicality was added to the improvisations and modern harmonies that were being explored by European classical composers such as Ravel, Debussy, and American composers such as Gershwin and Cole Porter. Eventually it moved to New York, to Harlem when it reached a certain zenith with stars of great talent, and it settled down in San Francisco where it was nourished in the last part of the twentieth century when it was overshadowed by rock 'n roll, and then just ROCK. But it stayed alive and well in the bistros and nightclubs of Paris and other great European cities where jazz was played as the important music it is. It is the purest export the U.S. ever sent abroad. And we should all cherish it!
ReplyDeleteI'm all the way up in Finland so Jazz hasn't really reached us too much but I do love what I get to see. I've danced Jazz (and Contemporary dance) for well over ten years now and it is too many times I wonder how it got so modern and melancholic and isn't like what it used to be anymore, and the original is split to different "forms" of Jazz that are rarely used and are considered too brave...
DeleteThis poem made me want to dance, which then made me sad because I'm stuck in bed with a cold and can't move without being in pain... =P
Great work! I felt the rhythm in my bones.
I'm so glad you read and commented Lilu. I have a yearning to see Finland. Jazz changes by its players/musicians. It is a form meant to be bent - the notes them selves "blues notes" are bent the tone being between two notes and on the piano played as two notes next to each other being depressed at once. Yes blues is sorrowful but the end result should always be redemptive. I hope you find that in your dance as well - at the end the spirit should be rejoicing, and all movement should rise from a lower position to an uplifted one. Thank you so much for coming by!
Deleteyou have captured the silk of the music so wonderfully in this, the use of color added so much to the feel. Lovely ~ Rose
ReplyDeleteJazzy and full of rhythm, Gay--and just a bit of party atmosphere as well. Hope you're feeling better today.
ReplyDeleteFrom "nightheraldings" to "dreamchasings" I was completely entranced by the sounds of music this poem brought to me.... Quite perfect Gay!
ReplyDeleteoh, you capture a magical atmosphere that I hope I can experience some day.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you wrote this in the second person, so I could imagine myself in the scene, especially with the little touches of texture, like the swissh of nylons and the sound qualities to bring the music alive.
ReplyDeleteGay~ This makes me want to go to New orleans Jazz Fest!
ReplyDelete*I'm going to email you about what you asked me to do.*
exciting, gritty, glittering by turns; evocative and feels authentic. Like this one very much Gay. Sorry I haven't been back to you about the Sonnet slot; I will do, it's just v difficult at present. I hope you're managing my friend
ReplyDeletewarmest regards Gay
Luke xx
Well I like this very much, exciting, thrilling and alive just like the topic. Thanks. gardenlilie/Kim
ReplyDelete"those nightheralded fluid blues
ReplyDeleterub against you
rising up from gratings
to grab you."
the music is in every verse... every line... every word... i LOVE LOVE LOVE when you write one of your 'musical' poems! {i love the more formal forms too, of course!} sensual, bluesy, jazzy, improvisational in feel ~ stunning, Gay!
i hope you're feeling better!
dani ♥
sounds "dazzling". musically fun!
ReplyDeleteGosh, really lovely, Gay. I have to add this is one of my favorites of yours so far.
ReplyDeleteGot that rhythm and those sights down with just the right measure and just the right Cool. Feeling the vibe right down to my toes. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI love this! It bubbles with intoxicating promise and musical delight. Even the sound of nylons keeping beat...wow. You really caught the glamour and excitement of the poster; just great!
ReplyDeletePut it to music, Gay.
ReplyDeleteCame right over from Pete's blog. You are a good friend...
I love this so much....I spend many a night listening to live music...life just seems grander because of it
ReplyDelete