“Looking for Charlie Parker” and other poems by Matthew Johnson

July 13th, 2016

 

 

 

Looking for Charlie Parker

I wonder if it will take another body to stream into the Infinite….

For this was the odd idea that stirred me eerie
Like a push into the wild past from my future spirit to relive my final day,
Or a siren calling me to steal the virtuose of fire.

I was looking for Charlie Parker that night,
Improvising my footsteps under porch lights which spotted
Roads that didn’t change, but regularly reforming street names and avenues.
But I didn’t know their names, for there were too many….

Oh Charlie Parker,
I thought I had found the acumen of what makes love loveable and a soul to gain its fill,
Then I felt like a hipster, for I was playing genius. And I was wrong.
I did not know, and I will not know until it burns and cracks me like it did you.

I continued looking for Charlie Parker, and I had moved and gone
To a place crumbling with melody, and I rode to that swinging highway,
For I knew I was close to the self-harm of meaningless creatures,
As I was getting all Celebrity and Excess on my clothes,
And felt the stone-faced scowl of Privacy over my shoulders.

I was looking for Charlie Parker that night,
Along the abandoned railway and the cities and the nightclubs.
And the self-hate, away in a lonesome company, tethered onto me,
Joining my journey till that pent-up stage of lone suffering
Pushed me over, as I cried and screamed for help.

Then I found you Charlie Parker,
As you were blowing your sax in the direction where your innocence went.
I ask you, you brilliant jazzman,
Charlie Parker, did you kick along these empty boulevards by yourself?
After all the credit and musical flair my kind-smiling brother, did you not receive help?
What allowed just Hathor or God to take away the clarity and count
That allow such young people to cut themselves off, as we just stand by and watch?

 

 

_____

 

 

Glimpse of Negro Pride in the Depression (Brown like Samson)

When he came home from work,
Mule-tired of 5 a.m. starting shifts
And 7 p.m. leaving times,
Pop would abandon all
To light a smoke and
Ear to his favorite radio show.
When it ended, he hummed a tune so often in the air,
That it knew the night
Like the eve knew the moon:

Brown like Samson, 
      Cinnamon and cocoa bean,
      Handsome like me.

During his show,
He would tell us to shush up,
and we gave him peace.
For when it ended, he returned to us,
And lifted us on his shoulders
To march in the street,
Joining everyone we knew
In a Bronze Brigade down avenues
To carry that tune:

Brown like Samson,
      Cinnamon and cocoa bean,
      Handsome like me.

It was as if they all had ignored
The tired and groan of his bones,
As well as the troubles of his prideful tone,
For Joe Louis had just won.

 

_____

 

 

I Enjoy Little, Brown Clay

For the old nation believing them vile,
Uncalled chaos in Miami bubbles
As Louisville Lip and Detroit Red
Laugh and discuss for awhile
The greatness of God, black
And all things untamed
That scar the ranklings
And flame white upset.
And I,
Perusing that photograph
Belonging to unmoved time,
Am just a smile.

 

_____

 

 

Jackie Robinson Hopping on Third Base

Among the storytellers emerging in the black and white newsprint of 1955,
Cartooning all things of culture:
Demagogue McCarthy and his love for democracy,
Old men boarding their windows for that race storm a-comin’,
And the confectionary dreams of living in the new America!
Those writers, with their lingual and city imaginations,
Could of had me spinning mad till the Earth shook still.

Oh great conscious, how I am to feel the progress and Elvis!

And I appreciate it all,
But I choose to only go to the Kahns’ short stories of October baseball,
Fashioned in the mysticisms of Brooklyn and an afternoon World Series,
The radio soundtrack of autumn rooftops with their rusty fire escapes,
Drinking cheap material and family yelling till the ceiling shrieks.

I go to the uncompromising-ly stubborn Jackie Robinson,
Hopping and bobbing to a pitcher’s stretch
Like a dance to a song overflowing with more spirit than baseball.

After dragging himself through that Yankee Stadium alley to third base,
He stood proud on third, in vaudeville shake, rocking back and forth in Dodger cap blue.
I would have loved seeing Robinson ringing his powerful arms, making up when to chase home
Then suddenly driving for score onto that home plate,
Sneaking a score in Game One and leaving nothing but a ferocious Berra.

 

 

_____

Matthew Johnson is a 2015 college graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Matthew has had poetry published in The Carolinian, The Coraddi, The News Verse News, Obsidian Magazine, and the Yellow Chair Review. He has poetry set to appear this month for Sick Lit Magazine and has poetry forthcoming in Ink in Thirds. He is a sports reporter who has written for the Carolinian, StoopSports, Fansided, and the USA Today College

Share this:

Comment on this article:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Letter From the Publisher

An appeal for contributions to support the ongoing publishing efforts of Jerry Jazz Musician

In This Issue

The Modern Jazz Quintet by Everett Spruill
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2023 Edition

A wide range of topics are found in this collection. Tributes are paid to Tony Bennett and Ahmad Jamal and to the abstract worlds of musicians like Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; the complex lives of Chet Baker and Nina Simone are considered; devotions to Ellington and Basie are revealed; and personal solace is found in the music of Tommy Flanagan and Quartet West. These are poems of peace, reflection, time, venue and humor – all with jazz at their core. (Featuring the art of Everett Spruill)

The Sunday Poem

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
“Fledging” by John L. Stanizzi

Interview

photo courtesy of Henry Threadgill
Interview with Brent Hayes Edwards, co-author (with Henry Threadgill) of Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music...The author discusses his work co-written with Threadgill, the composer and multi-instrumentalist widely recognized as one of the most original and innovative voices in contemporary music, and the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Poetry

painting by Henry Denander
A collection of jazz haiku...This collection, featuring 22 poets, is an example of how much love, humor, sentimentality, reverence, joy and sorrow poets can fit into their haiku devoted to jazz.

In Memoriam

Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A thought or two about Tony Bennett

Podcast

"BG Boogie’s musical tour of indictment season"...The podcaster “BG Boogie” has weaponized the most recent drama facing The Former Guy, creating a 30 minute playlist “with all the latest up-to-date-est musical indictments of political ineptitude.”

Interview

Chick Webb/photographer unknown
Interview with Stephanie Stein Crease, author of Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America...The author talks about her book and Chick Webb, once at the center of America’s popular music, and among the most influential musicians in jazz history.

Community

FOTO:FORTEPAN / Kölcsey Ferenc Dunakeszi Városi Könyvtár / Petanovics fényképek, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
.“Community Bookshelf, #1"...a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so…

Short Fiction

photo vi Wallpaper Flare
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #63 — “Company” by Anastasia Jill...Twenty-year-old Priscilla Habel lives with her wannabe flapper mother who remains stuck in the jazz age 40 years later. Life is monotonous and sad until Cil meets Willie Flasterstain, a beatnik lesbian who offers an escape from her mother's ever-imposing shadow.

Poetry

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 16: “Little Waltz” and “Summertime”...Trading Fours with Douglas Cole is an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film. In this edition, he connects the recordings of Jessica Williams' "Little Waltz" and Gene Harris' "Summertime."

Playlist

photo by Bob Hecht
This 28-song Spotify playlist, curated by Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht, features great tunes performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Lester Young, Stan Getz, and…well, you get the idea.

Poetry

photo of Wolfman Jack via Wikimedia Commons
“Wolfman and The Righteous Brothers” – a poem by John Briscoe

Jazz History Quiz #167

GuardianH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Before becoming one of television’s biggest stars, he was a competent ragtime and jazz piano player greatly influenced by Scott Joplin (pictured), and employed a band of New Orleans musicians similar to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to play during his vaudeville revue. Who was he?

Short Fiction

photo via PIXNIO/CC0
“The Sound Barrier” – a short story by Bex Hansen

Short Fiction

back cover of Diana Krall's album "The Girl in the Other Room" [Verve]
“Improvised: A life in 7ths, 9ths and Suspended 4ths” – a short story by Vikki C.

Interview

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Long regarded as jazz music’s most eminent baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan was a central figure in “cool” jazz whose contributions to it also included his important work as a composer and arranger. Noted jazz scholar Alyn Shipton, author of The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets, and Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht discuss Mulligan’s unique contributions to modern jazz.

Photography

photo by Giovanni Piesco
Giovanni Piesco’s photographs of Tristan Honsinger

Poetry

Maurice Mickle considers jazz venues, in two poems

In Memoriam

David Becker, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“Tony Bennett, In Memoriam” – a poem by Erren Kelly

Poetry

IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ella Fitzgerald, in poems by Claire Andreani and Michael L. Newell

Book Excerpt

“Chick” Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the “Savoy King,” who reigned at Harlem’s world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Stephanie Stein Crease is the first to fully tell Webb’s story in her biography, Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America…The book’s entire introduction is excerpted here.

Feature

Hans Christian Hagedorn, professor for German and Comparative Literature at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real (Spain) reveals the remarkable presence of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote in the history of jazz.

Short Fiction

Dmitry Rozhkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“A Skull on the Moscow Leningrad Sleeper” – a short story by Robert Kibble...A story revolving around a jazz record which means so much to a couple that they risk being discovered while attempting to escape the Soviet Union

Book Excerpt

Book excerpt from Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music, by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards

Short Fiction

photo via Appletreeauction.com
“Streamline Moderne” – a short story by Amadea Tanner

Publisher’s Notes

“C’est Si Bon” – at trip's end, a D-Day experience, and an abundance of gratitude

Poetry

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
A Charlie Parker Poetry Collection...Nine poets, nine poems on the leading figure in the development of bebop…

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Interview

Photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson
Interview with Glenn Mott, editor of Victory is Assured: The Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch (photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson)

Interview

photo of Sonny Rollins by Brian McMillen
Interview with Aidan Levy, author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins...The author discusses his book about the iconic tenor saxophonist who is one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time – a lasting link to the golden age of jazz

Art

Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance: “Outtakes” — Vol. 2...In this edition, the authors Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder share examples of Cha Cha Cha record album covers that didn't make the final cut in their book

Pressed for All Time

“Pressed For All Time,” Vol. 17 — producer Joel Dorn on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1967 album, The Inflated Tear

Photography

© Veryl Oakland
John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana are featured in this edition of photographs and stories from Veryl Oakland’s book, Jazz in Available Light

Coming Soon

An interview with Judith Tick, author of Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song; A new collection of jazz poetry; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

Interview Archive

Eubie Blake
Click to view the complete 22 year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake (pictured); Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.

Site Archive