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12 individual poets contribute a jazz-themed poem dedicated to a particular month, resulting in a 2026 calendar of jazz poetry that winds through the year with a variety of poetic styles and voices who share their journeys with the music, tying it into the month they were tasked to interpret. Along the way you will encounter the likes of Sonny Stitt, Charles Mingus, Jaco Pastorius, Wynton Kelly, John Coltrane, and Nina Simone.
This edition, September, features Terrance Underwood’s poem “Days Turn Golden”
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September, 2026
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Days Turn Golden
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by Terrance Underwood
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photo via Raw Pixel
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Days Turn Golden
Summer wind passes
……………into Autumnal breeze
………………………….days turn golden
………………………………………..fewer but ever precious
a want
……………to be near
………………………….embraces constancy
………………………………………..while a song lingers
toward the upcoming white
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Listen to Terrance Underwood read his poem
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Listen to the 1978 recording of Willie Nelson performing the Maxwell Anderson/Kurt Weill composition “September Song” [Legacy/Columbia]
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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
Click here to read his collection of poems “With Ease in Mind”
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Click here to read Geer Austin’s poem for October
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Readers can click to other poems within the 2026 jazz poetry calendar by clicking on the link to the months here:
Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr/May/Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep/Oct/Nov/Dec/Intro
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Click for:
More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician
“Where the Music Wasn’t Allowed,” Jane McCarthy’s winning story in the 71st Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
More short fiction on Jerry Jazz Musician
Information about how to submit your poetry or short fiction
Subscribe to the (free) Jerry Jazz Musician quarterly newsletter
Helping to 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 since 1999
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