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The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work.
Saira Viola reads her poem at its conclusion.
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photo via Pickpik.com
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Angel Mouthed Promises
The kiss of a cymbal, a whispered SH-BOOM/
A cobalt wing -rose smoked and bruised/
Golden riffs tossed across the sea/
Angel mouthed promises
a breath of HONEY /
The weather’s a cut – up
Popcorn clouds halo a tin pan sky
And the sun a -brass flare—
bursts through shuttered blinds.
And she…
she Watusis
like a prayer.
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Listen to Saira Viola read her poem
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Saira Viola : Pushcart Nominated wordsmith of lyrical noir and punk lit.
Poetry : Don’t Shoot The Messenger, Flowers of War, (anti war) Fast Food and Gin on the Lawn) Novels: Crack Apple & Pop, Jukebox, and short stories (Red Honey) Words found on the page the protest line and the middle of the fight.
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Listen to the 1982 recording of Ralph Towner performing his composition “Blue Sun.” Towner plays all the instruments. [Universal Music Group]
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Click for:
More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician
War. Remembrance. Walls. The High Price of Authoritarianism – by editor/publisher Joe Maita
“My Vertical Landscape,” Felicia A. Rivers’ winning story in the 69th 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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Groovy
Beautifully voiced, sweetly scored,
With jazz and joy wielding wingspan
Viola’s verse harmonises with pad
And key through spiced strings.
And this is how she blows breath
And across inspiration. This is her Word jazz as journey. As Saira writes
So she sings
To dance like prayer so it is how Saira Viola writes. To write like Jazz was one of the primary premises of the Beat Generation and here in 2025, Viola answers that clarion call in generations later spiraling and weaving bebop, hard bop and Love’s Supreme notions on the world’s cafe stage. More than mere words on a page that spark momentary warmth her work whether it be poetry or prose is incendiary. Catch this particular fire if you’re smart and really want to groove I suggest. Setting the mind, heart and ultimately the soul ablaze as all real art is meant to do, Saira Viola gets that voodoo innately. Feel her run it down as she sets the page a light. In a literary world where bland fads and trends of empty fashion and supposed substance rule boring and inept, utterly bereft of that true fire that resides in life lived alive Saira’s work comes to burn all that bullshit down and teaches us to dig far deeper into the marrow and spleen and comes up with the heart of the matter, her stories and poems for this modern age carved, cut and molded from something ancient, primordial, wise to world but always in touch with the soul of it all. Take up the challenge, dare deeper if you will and find Saira’s work there for you.
I have read Saira Viola for years now and so should everyone including the literary world if it proves to be bold enough. Cheers-