“O as in October” – a poem by Geer Austin

September 30th, 2026

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, October, features Geer Austin’s poem “O as in October”

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October, 2026

“O as in October”

by Geer Austin

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The cover of John Coltrane’s 1966 Impulse! album Meditations

O as in October

October is a round month like the letter O.
A letter like a circle. October brisk and colorful.
Yet, changeable like a Coltrane solo, taking us
to unexpected temperatures, cool to warm
to spiritual. Is spiritual a temperature?
Coltrane makes it so. My creator has a
master plan. Who was his creator?
Earth Mother, maybe. Or the Milky Way.
Coltrane, all inclusive, nurturing like a bowl
of pumpkin soup with a dash of cayenne.
A soup bowl is another circle. Round like
an O. Coltrane’s music started in his brain,
passed through his mouth to a reed
that vibrated in the breeze of his breath,
went down the instrument’s brass neck,
into its body and out its bell. The rim of
the bell another circle. An O like October.

Listen to Geer Austin read his poem

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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.

Listen to the 1966 recording of John Coltrane performing his composition “Serenity,” with McCoy Tyner (piano); Jimmy Garrison (bass); and Elvin Jones (drums). [Universal Music Group]