A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition

June 21st, 2024

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Following the artist biography, those of the poets are listed in alphabetical order

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The artist

Paul Lovering was born in Devon and now lives in the Scottish Borders. After years of working in watercolors, he now uses mixed media (acrylic, watercolor and digital). From large canvases to an extensive range of blended photography, his art combines the past with the modern.

His current work plays with abstract color and the famous, and is collected in Europe, the United States, and Canada. He is regularly approached to feature his art in books and specialist magazines.  From David Bowie to Nina Simone, and from Marilyn Monroe to Martin Luther King, his portraits are of people he admires for giving us great music, and for entertaining and/or inspiring us.

You can view all his art on Fine Art America and Saatchi Art websites.

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Geer Austin’s poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Fjords Review, Main Street Rag, BlazeVOX, Neuro Logical Magazine and others, and his fiction has appeared in A/U Magazine, the podcast A Story Most Queer and elsewhere. He is the author of Cloverleaf, a poetry chapbook (Poets Wear Prada Press). He lives in New York City.

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Jerrice J. Baptiste is a poet and author of eight books. Her poetry has been published and is forthcoming in Artemis Journal, Urthona: Buddhism & Art, Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & The Arts, The Yale Review, Mantis, The Dewdrop, The Banyan Review, Kosmos Journal, Jerry Jazz Musician and elsewhere. She has been nominated as Best of The Net for 2022 by Blue Stem.  Her poetry and collaborative songwriting are featured on the Grammy award nominated album- Many Hands: Family Music for Haiti.

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Charlie Brice won the 2020 Field Guide Poetry Magazine Poetry Contest and placed third in the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. His sixth full-length poetry collection is Pinnacles of Hope (Impspired Books, 2022). His poetry has been nominated three times for both the Best of Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Atlanta Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Ibbetson Street, The Paterson Literary Review, Impspired Magazine, Salamander Ink Magazine, and elsewhere.

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Daniel W. Brown has loved jazz (and music in general) ever since he delved into his parents’ 78 collection as a child. He is a retired special education teacher who began writing as a senior. He always appreciates being published in journals and anthologies. At age 72 he published his first collection,  Family Portraits in Verse and Other Illustrated Poems,  through Epigraph Books, Rhinebeck, New York.  Daniel writes daily about music, art and whatever else catches his imagination.

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Liona T. Burnham teaches writing to college students in the Pacific Northwest and online in Northern Virginia. She has poems published in Sky Island Journal, One Art, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Northern Virginia Review, and more. She recently served as a judge for a Poetry Out Loud contest for high school students.

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Patricia Carragon is author of Angel Fire (Alien Buddha Press), Meowku (Poets Wear Prada), The Cupcake Chronicles (Poets Wear Prada), and Innocence (Finishing Line Press). All are available on Amazon.com. She is curator/editor-in-chief of Brownstone Poets, Brooklyn, New York.

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Norla Chee is a Navajo/Oneida poet who lives on the Navajo Reservation. She has one book of poetry published, Cedar Smoke On Abalone Mountain, published through UCLA. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.

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Molly Larson Cook is an award-winning Oregon writer, writing coach, and artist. In 2016, she received the first Steve Kowit Poetry Prize in a national competition. Molly was a Fellow at the Fishtrap Writers Conference in Oregon where she worked with poet Naomi Shihab Nye. Molly’s jazz novel, Listen, was published in a limited edition in 2003. Her “Colors of Jazz” paintings can be seen by clicking here.

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Brooklyn-born Arlene Corwin, now in her 90’s, is a harpist, pianist and singer – a jazz musician forever. She earned her BA at Hofstra Univ. She has published 19 poetry books. In the 1950s her mother owned a jazz club in Hempstead, Long Island with Slim Gaillard. She currently lives in Sweden.

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John van Otterloo

Edward A. Dougherty was raised on the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street,  Bruce Springsteen’s  The Wild, The innocent, and the E Street Shuffle,  and other standards of FM radio, but found his way to Kind of Blue,  Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, and others when he detoured into classical, acoustic instrumental and other music without lyrics so that he could read and write. He is the author of 11 collections of poetry, including 10048, a poetic history/elegy of the Twin Towers and 9/11. His newest book is Journey Work: Crafting a Life of Poetry & Spirit,  which recounts in essays his journeys as a writer, a peacemaker and a spiritual seeker.

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Russell duPont is an artist and an author whose artwork is included in a number of public and private collections. He has published three novels, King & Train , Waiting for the Turk  and Movin’ On,  the sequel to  King & Train; two books of poetry; and two non-fiction chapbooks. His essay, “The Corner,” is included in the anthology Streets of Echoes. His work has been published in various newspapers and literary magazines. He was the founder & publisher of the literary magazine, the albatross.

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Michael Edman is a writer from Oklahoma. He finds inspiration in jazz songs such as Coltrane’s “Alabama” and Sidney Bechet’s “Si Tu Vois Ma Mère.” When not working on poetry, Michael enjoys writing short stories, and he’s currently putting the finishing touches on a first novel.

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Linda Freudenberger began writing in 2017 to heal after the sudden death of her husband after 42 years of marriage. She graduated from the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning Author Academy in 2019 and the Poetry Gauntlet in 2020. She resides in Lexington, Kentucky with Clancy, a certified therapy dog.  Her first poetry book is The Other Side of the Bed and Beyond  (Finishing Line Press).

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Susie Gharib is a graduate of the University of Strathclyde with a Ph.D. in English on the work of D.H. Lawrence. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Adelaide Literary Magazine, the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Mad Swirl, Down in the Dirt, The Ink Pantry, Impspired Magazine, A New Ulster, Westward Quarterly, Miller’s Pond Poetry Magazine, The Opiate, Penwood review, Crossways, Amethyst Review, Synchronized Chaos, Pinyon Review, Leaves of Ink, Peacock Journal, The Blotter, and many others.

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Adrian Green is from Essex with mixed Welsh, Irish and English heritage. His work has appeared in England and abroad, and in two collections, Chorus and Coda and All That Jazz and Other Poems from The Littoral Press. He also co-edited an anthology, From the City to the Saltings, for the Essex Poetry Festival.

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Elaine Croce Happnie is a mixed media artist whose work has been shown in select solo and group exhibitions in New York, Boston, and Fort Myers, Florida.

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John Kendall Hawkins is an American freelance writer currently residing in Australia. His poetry, commentary and reviews have appeared in publications in Oceania, Europe, and the US. He is a regular contributor to Counterpunch magazine. He is a former winner of the Academy of American Poets prize, and is working on a novel.

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Sean Howard is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Trinity: Tribute Sequences for Robert Graves (Gaspereau Press, Canada, 2022). Sean’s poetry has been widely published in Canada, the US, UK, and elsewhere, and featured in The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2017). Sean is adjunct professor of political science at Cape Breton University, and writes a monthly ‘War & Peace’ column for the Cape Breton Spectator.

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DH Jenkins’ poems have appeared in  Jerry Jazz Musician,  Kelp  Journal, and  The Ekphrastic Review.  His new book of poetry,   Patterns on the Wall,   is available on Amazon.com.    He lives in New Zealand.

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Connie Johnson is a Los Angeles, CA-based writer whose poetry has appeared in publications such as San Pedro River Review, Cholla Needles, Iconoclast, Rye Whiskey Review, Glint Literary Journal, Sport Literate and Writing in a Woman’s Voice. In 2023 she was twice-nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Everything is Distant Now  (Blue Horse Press), her debut poetry collection, is available on Amazon;  In a Place of Dreams, her digital album/chapbook, was published by Jerry Jazz Musician.  Click here to read it.

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Brian Kates’ journalism has won a Pulitzer Prize, George Polk Award and other honors. His non-fiction book, The Murder of a Shopping Bag Lady, a saga of American homelessness, was a finalist for Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award. Brian’s poetry has appeared in Banyan Review, Paterson Literary Review, Third Wednesday and elsewhere. He lives with his wife in a house in the woods in the lower Hudson Valley.

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Thomas R. Keith currently resides in his hometown of Austin, Texas.  A jazz aficionado for over two decades, he is fascinated by the complex relationship between poetry and music, a theme he often explores in his work. His poetry has appeared in  Packingtown Review, Blue Unicorn, and  Poetry Salzburg Review, among other publications.

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Erren Kelly is a three-time Pushcart nominated poet from Boston whose work has appeared in 300 publications (print and online), including Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish, Poetry Magazine, Ceremony, Cacti Fur, Bitterzoet, Cactus Heart, Similar Peaks, Gloom Cupboard, and Poetry Salzburg.

Click here to read “Under Quarantine” — COVID-era poetry of Erren Kelly, published by Jerry Jazz Musician

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Michael Keshigian is the author of 14 poetry collections, his most recent, What to Do With Intangibles, from Cyberwit.net. His work has appeared in numerous national and international journals as well as many online publications, including California Quarterly, Chiron Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, San Pedro River Review, Oak Bend Review, and Sierra Nevada Review. He is a 7-time Pushcart Prize and 3-time Best Of The Net nominee.

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Joe Kidd is a published poet and songwriter. In 2015 he released the CD titled Everybody Has A Purpose, and in 2020 published The Invisible Waterhole, a collection of spiritual and sensual verse. Joe is a member of the National & International Beat Poet Foundation (USA), Angora Poets (Paris France), The Society of Classical Poets, and 100,000 Poets For Change International. In 2022 he was appointed Beat Poet Laureate of the State of Michigan 2022-2024. He was recently recognized as an Official Poet of the Government of Birdland. Joe was inducted into the Michigan Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in June 2017.

Click here to visit his website.

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Miho Kinnas is a poet and translator living in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Her latest book is Waiting for Sunset to Bury Red Camellias (Free Verse Press, 2023). She has published a book of poems in collaboration with E. Ethelbert Miller, We Eclipse into the Other Side (Pinyon Publishing).

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Michel Steven Krug is a Minneapolis poet, fiction writer, former print journalist from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and he litigates.  His poems have appeared in New Verse News, Poetica Publishing, Liquid Imagination, Blue Mountain Review, Portside, and many others.

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Catherine Lee, a widely published neo-Beat, explores poetry’s percussive jazz voice. Lee’s  Mentor Wonders  poetic drama about mentoring public elementary students is available at Amazon and as a Dramatic Reading video at VIMEO. Lee is finishing another play,  Maverick Secrets: Decoding Early TV Westerns,  about how watching the many TV Westerns as kids prejudiced seniors against minorities and women, and led to acceptance of openly-carried firearms.  Catherine Lee’s extensive artistic biography is found at getcreatuvesanantonio.com.

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j.lewis is an internationally published poet, musician, nurse practitioner, and the editor of Verse-Virtual, an online journal and community. When he is not otherwise occupied, he is often on a kayak, exploring and photographing the waterways near his home in California. He is the author of five full length collections, plus eight chapbooks. Click here to visit his website.

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photo by James Archbold

Kathryn MacDonald has published in Room, FreeFall, and other Canadian literary journals and anthologies, as well as international journals such as The High Window and Orbis in the U.K., Jerry Jazz Musician and Amethyst Journal in the U.S. She is the author  Far Side of the Shadow Moon  (chapbook),  A Breeze You Whisper: Poems,  and  Calla & Édourd  (fiction).   Click here to visit her website.

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Mike Mignano, 73, retired in Ocala, FL. Hometown Ithaca, New York. Interests include travel, history, choral singing, guitar, attending musical theatre and hymn lyric writing/poetry.

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E. Ethelbert Miller is a poet and literary activist living in Washington D. C. His latest book is How I Found Love Behind the Catcher’s Mask: Poems (City Point Press, 2022) and he was a nominee for a Grammy in the 2023 Spoken Word Album category with his Black Men Are Precious album.
He has published a book of poems in collaboration with Miho Kinnas, We Eclipse into the Other Side (Pinyon Publishing).

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Michael L. Newell lives on the Atlantic Coast of Florida. His most recent book of poems is  Passage of a Heart.

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Bernard Saint is a U.K. poet who has published in U.K. and United States literary magazines since the 1960’s. He is a regular contributor to International Times. His most recent book is ROMA, published by Smokestack Books. He worked as a therapist and supervisor in the U.K. National Health Service in psychiatry and in addiction recovery.

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Christopher D. Sims is a writer of poetry, a spoken word artist, and a human rights activist who uses words to inform. Born and raised on the west side of Rockford, Illinois, he has been writing since he was nine years old. A published poet, Christopher wrote a poetry and memoir collection entitled I was Born and Raised in The Rock in 2020. He is a fellow of the Intercultural Leadership Institute.

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Dr. Roger Singer was in private chiropractic practice for 38 years in upstate New York, and served as a medical technician during the Vietnam era. Dr. Singer is the Poet Laureate of Old Lyme, Connecticut, and has had over 1,070 poems published on the Internet, magazines and in books, and is a 2017 Pushcart Prize Award Nominee. He is also the President of the Shoreline Chapter of the Connecticut Poetry Society.

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Terrance Underwood is a retired Gas Turbine Package Engineer whose career offered opportunities to work all over the world. A devoted jazz enthusiast, his first memory operating a mechanical devise was a 4-speed spindle drop record changer for his father’s collection of 78s.

Click here to read Proceeding From Behind: A collection of poems grounded in the rhythmic, relating to the remarkable,  by Terrance Underwood

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Robert K. Walters grew up in the bayou country of East Texas. After graduating from West Virginia University, he has spent the last few decades teaching Literature, Writing, and Creative Writing in Asheville, North Carolina, where life is good and music is wonderful. He also plays drums in a blues and soul band, writes fiction and poetry, and paints to calm a restless spirit. He is married to his favorite person, and they have three large sons.

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Anthony Ward chooses to write because he has no choice. He writes to get rid of himself and lay his thoughts to rest. He derives most of his inspiration from listening to classical music and jazz since it is often the mood which inspires him. He has recently been published in Jerry Jazz Musician, Synchronized Chaos, Literary Yard, Mad Swirl, Shot Glass Journal and Ariel Chart.

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Phyllis Wax writes in Milwaukee on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. Inspired by nature and human nature, as well as by music of all sorts, her poetry has appeared previously in Jerry Jazz Musician as well as in many other journals and anthologies, both online and in print.

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Born in Philadelphia and educated in New York and Wisconsin, Allison Whittenberg is an award winning novelist and playwright. Her poetry has appeared in Columbia Review, Feminist Studies, J Journal, and New Orleans Review. Whittenberg is a six-time Pushcart Prize nominee.  Driving with a Poetic License and They Were Horrible Cooks are her collections of poetry.  Her favorite singers are Betty Carter, Billie Holiday, and Lee Wiley.

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Jianqing Zheng is the author of The Dog Years of Reeducation  (Madville Publishing, 2023)  and A Way of Looking  (Silverfish Review Press, 2021). He teaches at a historically Black institution in the Mississippi Delta.

 

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Click here to read  The Sunday Poem

Click here to read “A Collection of Jazz Poetry – Winter, 2024 Edition”

Click here to read “Ballad,” Lúcia Leão’s winning story in the 65th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest

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

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2 comments on “A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition”

  1. I have read a few poems in this collection, and they are all stellar pieces of poetry. The language of each poem is engaging. There is nothing like jazz-focused poetry. I am thankful to have a poem featured in this collection,

  2. As always, this is an intriguing collection. I look forward to spending more time reading, again & again. Then, looking up all the music in the poems. Congratulations to Joe Maita and all the contributors. All the best, Leah Ann Sullivan

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