“Solea” — a poem by Michael L. Newell

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photo by Joseph Hersh via Unsplash

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Solea

a trumpet cries over orchestral waves
trumpet mourns like a wounded beast
trumpet demands attention
orchestra swells trumpet riding its waves
silence then trumpet reappears softly in distance
drums start a flamenco beat horns quietly appear
Miles’ horn rises above the beat beneath as it builds
the horn mourns the horn mourns and drums beat

the trumpet cries from the heart from man’s bones
this is a funeral for mankind this is a funeral for all life
lost lost lost again and again horn vanishes
and orchestra lays a groundwork for the trumpet to reappear
and fade drums continue and trumpet dances in a wild
pageant of death the orchestra remains together the horn
sounds pain all pain all kinds of pain and the horn rises
joined by the orchestra the trumpet screams and disappears

and reappears in a rapid complaint above the muted orchestra
the drums dance a wild dance enter the orchestra swelling
and the trumpet hangs high above in pure pain pure emptying
of pain upon the earth the dying earth and the drums march on
the orchestra rises and the trumpet weeps the trumpet weeps
and then rises above the marching orchestra and the horn
dies in a wail seeping into the earth the orchestra marches on
then builds and builds and the trumpet climbs steps high above

filled with tears filled with pain filled with all mankind has lost
as horn slips down into earth the orchestra vanishes save for drums
steady martial dance beneath all else and the trumpet returns
filled with all of life’s pain all of life’s losses the orchestral dance
lays out beneath the horn’s bleak plaint for all lost all destroyed
all no longer present to be loved horn slips into the earth orchestra
whispers beneath purest song of Miles’ horn weeping horn which slowly
slips into earth the drums continuing a slow march to nothingness

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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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Listen to the 1960 recording of Miles Davis playing “Solea,” from the album Sketches of Spain

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