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Dear Readers:
…..It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Terrance Underwood’s poetry. I am also quite jealous of his ease with words, and of his graceful way of living.
…..Terrance wrote me recently, describing how his days unfold with jazz, and poetry:
…..“After years of long hours and hard work in construction camps, remote pipeline stations, offshore barges and production platforms, I am now able to catch up on all the jazz I missed during the conduct of my career, and letting this great music provide the poetic inspiration informs their outcome. Now, ‘home’ and ‘jazz’ have become two of my principal 4-letter words.”
…..He tells me these poems we’ve collected are derived from a time of his life where an ease of living has now set in, and as a reader I find them especially effective in the warm breezes of summer. His language brings with it a curious calm I find quite soothing, and at times it inspires me to rediscover the artists he so admires, often in my backyard with a tall glass of something cool.
…..I hope you enjoy.
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Joe Maita
Editor/Publisher
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With Ease In Mind
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Listen to the 1977 recording of Zoot Sims (tenor sax); Jimmy Rowles (piano); George Mraz (drum); and Mousie Alexander (drums) performing the Josef Myrow/Edgar Delange composition “If I’m Lucky” [Universal Music Group]
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Mingled
Across an Everglades sawgrass plain
Gulf breezes ripple through
a small grove’s leaves to mingle
with Cloudless Sulphur butterflies
faint Mourning Doves yowling Gray Catbirds
all serving as a backdrop
diverting attention from these lines
just beyond an upstairs window
a slender reptile is viewed
a green Anole paused absorbed
on a blanched Black Olive branch
its red tinged dewlap quivers while charging blood
before moving on to the fulfillment of its purpose
and I return encouraged to tending mine
mine being at this moment
Zoot Sims’s own styled tenor breeze
mingled with Jimmy Rowles
George Mraz & Mousey Alexander
around “If I’m Lucky”
and to be among such as these
I suppose I am
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Listen to Terrance read his poem
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Reflecting On A Waltz
in slippers treading on a soft floor
entry into that place
that time
is nearly complete
soon to be among the Evansesque & Jamalian
notes flowing like a bouquet’s romance petals
from the grace of their whispered twilight touch
to a fecund earth that has given to all
birth and continued on a course
both structured and distinctly improvised
to a celebrated vision’s remains
where once assumption was denied by assertion
an impulse never ceasing in others expectation
and yet still able to happen because of
that other happier though fast becoming relic
savored surprise
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Poblano Magic
From a kitchen drifts
a fragrance captivated persistent Romance
& at that exact moment Red Garland
is read on an appearance notice
at the Blackhawk on Hyde St
San Francisco, 1957
& though I want to get after his recordings
……………………………in particular the trios
I was stopped short & overwhelmed
by remembrance from the peppered aroma
Carmen’s chiles rellenos have perpetrated
& with such a disturbance in the atmosphere
Mexico has come alive in Miami
Red dishes his own recipe for “Manteca”
but it must wait until Los Lobos
serves up a “Saint Behind The Glass”
which is manifestly preferred
for the strength to be plated on our table
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Nearly Cherry Red
As a self-described snack-ephant
I share a disposition
With a fellow syllabic mammal
That noble tusker reputed never to forget
As my household claims
I can’t help but wonder if my comrade
Heads to his tucked away
Savannah place of savored remembrance
To snuffle and truncate
For particular flavors as I do
When crossing the living room carpet
In a plodding meander leaving sofas behind
On the journey to feed my own mythology
My great advantage being wherever I go
I can carry in some form Big Joe Turner
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Listen to Terrance read his poem
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An Evans Singularity
Light flecks treetop leaves
……………Risen clouds shine luminous
Bill haunts Spartacus
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Listen to the 1962 recording of Paul Desmond (alto) and Gerry Mulligan (baritone) performing the Ralpy Rainger/Leo Robin composition “Easy Living,” with Connie Kay (drums); and John Beal (bass). [RCA/Victor]
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A Page From My Edition Of Paul’s Atlas
Tonally geographic his breath’s infusion
Void of any other “Could be” conclusion
Guides a Desmond cool sound refrain
Throughout bold mountain streams and plain
Scale beyond an alto climb
Head to the summit of sublime
Permit that zephyr’s languid contour
Pursue a continent’s jazz interior
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Unforgiving, Still Neighborly
from an open window an enticement
Hersch’s Sarabande Peacocks
played for both a subject
attraction and temptation
neither intention occurred
them feathers denied attempt
but his Lotus Blossom didn’t
and upon returning to the view
there it was standing right
by the bed of Blue Tangos
tail baggage fully spread
the object of anticipation & the other
a slender blue necked radiant
an awkward unsettled blend next to
those bromeliad floral extensions
yet within this mysterious moment
an iridescent crabby bird also hears
coupled with an earnest arm wave
a forbearing Shoo!
so this intrigue concludes
with a slow drag departure
baggage beauty and all
in the middle of Passion Flower
disdaining its ubiquitous peacock nod
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Listen to Terrance read his poem
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Prelude To A Dawn Cantata
daylight resonant aspect reveals
shaded colors such as are known
lingering about a jazz unshorn
waiting for the rhythm a note conceals
breaking calmly and with care
from a tenor here, from a trombone there
instruments gather to do their thing
a harmony of wood & wire & skin
diverse to articulate style and swing
with a vocal declaration infused within
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A Bar Tab At The Old Cock Pub
Too hot, too humid a darkened sky forms
as tropical threats announce a Southern rain
while on the Arcadia screen down stairs
a splayed Anole catches up temperature
……………………………then gone
now a gray squirrel is seen on a ramble
its brushtail leap & scoot rhythm
……………………………branch & limb
with no wasted recklessness
reinforces a dash of purpose added
to that pint of gymnastic wonder
……………………………reminding its
time for a tonic refresh
with a sunny side twist of Lester
Just You, Just Me Ad Lib relax
& afterwards a full lost session of Black Forest Bill
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Duke’s Piano Advice
………………….a didactic haiku
Press the flat white key
……………..Blend with sharpened ebony
Partner never flee
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Listen to Horace Parlan’s 2008 performance of Billy Strayhorn’s composition “Blood Count” [The Orchard]
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Trio
Darn That Parlan Dream
……………………(With NHOP & Tony)
No Roman this Horace
………….Nothing pompous
………….………….Nothing quite that ancien
His ivory Odes, fervent
…………………………………Oblige
………….………….An enduring resemblance
………….………….Sufficient while strolling
………….Through interiors
Of warm first light ground
………….………….West of Eden toward
Holy Land
………….………….grateful to seek repetition
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Not Quite Yet
Summer day
Lazy I napped
While Parlan played
Two Sleepy People
Half conscious
I had a thought about Hoagy
Glad that I was one of them
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Soothe & Cool
On a hot
Summer’s day in Miami Town
……………………………a gardener tires
Tending her own landscape.
Judging enough had been done
……………………………Carmen
………………………………………comes
indoors slowly to hear
……………………………a Horace Parlan solo
rendition of Blood Count
fill the room.
When asked
if the music is agreeable
………………………………………not too loud
……………………………“Yes”
is her immediate response.
………………………………………“Sounds nice,
it
& the air conditioning”.
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Interaction Starting With A Farmer
Happenstance listening to some Art
Harangued by jay squawk insistence
Wings dart around limbs where
A youthful brushtail romps its avoidance
Witnessed by myself
Below a sunlit cluster of bright egrets
Casually probe and wander
Groomed recent lawn undisturbed
A Gershwin image embraceable too
Returning to the trees
The annoyed squirrel seeks
A refuge lullaby in deeper leaves
Cause to play a Mulligan
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Listen to Terrance read his poem
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Terrance Underwood is a retired Gas Turbine Package Engineer whose career offered opportunities to work all over the world. A devoted jazz enthusiast, his first memory operating a mechanical devise was a 4-speed spindle drop record changer for his father’s collection of 78s.
Click here to read Proceeding From Behind: A collection of poems grounded in the rhythmic, relating to the remarkable, by Terrance Underwood
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Click for:
More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician
“Saharan Blues on the Seine,” Aishatu Ado’s winning story in the 68th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
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