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“Leaf on Bench, Falling in Rain,” Portland, 2015; by Bob Hecht

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wild is the wind
…………..(sung by Nina Simone)

do you hear the wind?
see that scarlet leaf
dance on concrete?

I am that wind
I am that leaf
I am that dance

in the distance
Ms. Simone sings about
spring & kisses

in a dervish trance
you cling to that leaf
embrace the wind

the wind is wild
& logic & fear surrender
to oneness

the wind is love
& love is the light
that has no end

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by Patricia Carragon

 

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Memory’s Salvation

An old man ages,
his steps slow, hunger
for beauty increases,
as a river flows past
sweeping life with it;
slowly rocking, he revisits songs
in his mind, while his body fades:

Jussi Bjoerling sings “Amor Ti Vieta”
with pristine passion; The Little Sparrow
illuminates “Non, Je ne regrette rien”
with full-throated ardor; Lady Day
mesmerizes all who hear her “God
Bless the Child” with an offbeat
beauty no one else can duplicate;

and Jacques Brel sings “Marieke”
with an abandon few singers
can match; the old man rocks
slowly as a lifetime of music liberates
his mind from his decaying flesh,
and he hums along, often off-key,
but with a joyous melancholy.

The ancient imagines crossing the bar
accompanied by Handel’s “Sarabande,”
then swept into an eternal ocean
by Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
The old fellow is convinced
that all beauty and meaning is best
expressed with the wonder of music.

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by Michael L. Newell

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Patricia Carragon’s poem “Paris the Beautiful” won Poem of the Week from great weather for MEDIA. Her fiction piece “What Has to Happen Next” is nominated for Sundress Publications Annual Best of the Net Anthology. Her latest book from Poets Wear Prada is Meowku. Her debut novel, Angel Fire, was just released by Alien Buddha Press. Patricia hosts Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. She can be reached via email at [email protected]

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Michael L. Newell has had six books published in the past three years: Meditation of an Old Man Standing on a Bridge; Each Step a Discovery; Wandering; Diddley-Bop-She-Bop; Making My Peace, and The Harry Poems (newly published). He currently lives in Florida.

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Bob Hecht frequently contributes his essays, photographs, interviews, playlists and personal stories to  Jerry Jazz Musician.  He has a long history of producing and hosting jazz radio programs; his former podcast series, The Joys of Jazz, was the 2019 Silver Medal winner in the New York Festivals Radio Awards.

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Listen to the 1964 recording of Nina Simone singing “Wild is the Wind” [Verve/Universal]

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Listen to the 1956 recording of Billie Holiday singing “God Bless the Child” [Verve/Universal]

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