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photo by Caleb Minear/via Pexels
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Summer Song
………………….Why must summer ever end? …Dave Brubeck
We have to slow it down ..way down
Everything moves at landslide speed
Dave Brubeck’s gentle piano sound
Light ..sweet ..soft ..just what we all need
It’s the first day of September
Summer laughed when we begged it to stay
First leaves are on ground ..Remember
when new buds were still weeks away?
Dave’s riffs are clean ..neat ..they rise.. fall
sweep the keyboards like a solstice rain
Stop me if you’ve heard this ardent call
before – the where did time go? refrain
His song is bittersweet ..Don’t go
we cry again ..This was just the start
of something wild ..wonderful ..No
luck ..Time’s blazing past our summer heart
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A Footnote to Readers…
I have had the privilege of publishing many poems by Mary K O’Melveny’s over the years, including this one, “Summer Song.”
I am proud to report that this week I learned that one of Mary’s poems originally published on Jerry Jazz Musician, “Centennial Miles,” will be performed on stage preceding a live concert that the Julliard School is producing in honor of Miles Davis.
The event will be livestreamed from this website on September 16, 2026, at 7:30 (eastern).
Opening Night: A Centennial Celebration of Miles Davis at The Juilliard School
You can read “Centennial Miles” by clicking here.
Joe Maita
Editor
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Mary K O’Melveny, retired labor rights lawyer, lives with her wife near Woodstock, NY. Mary became a fan of Jazz as a very young girl listening to Louis Armstrong and Lester Young on her grandparents’ Victrola record player. Mary’s award-nominated poetry appears in many print and on-line literary journals, anthologies and national blog sites. Mary has authored three poetry collections. Her just-released fourth book, Flight Patterns, is available by clicking here
Click here to read If You Want to Go to Heaven, Follow a Songbird – Mary K O’Melveny’s album of poetry and music, published by Jerry Jazz Musician
Click here to visit her web site
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Listen to the 2000 recording of Dave Brubeck performing his composition “Summer Song” [Universal Music Group]
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Click for:
A Letter From the Editor: On “The Weary Blues: Celebrating Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance”
Information about the book Kinds of Cool: An Interactive Collection of Jazz Poetry, Vol. II (featuring women poets)
“21 jazz poems on the 21st” collections
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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