Another original, on this the first day of International Poetry Month.
What?
Yeah, I made that up. I think. I can’t find an International Poetry Month formally on the magic tubes and wires, so why not? Also, why should poetry be relegated to a single month out of the year, why not give it a go every six months? And why should poetry be bound by any one nation’s acknowledgment when poetry should be for the people of the world, by the people of the world, regardless of boundaries?
Why the heck not?
No, I haven’t got anything formally planned. I’m mentioning this in advance of October 2011 becoming International Poetry Month. Am I the guy to organize such a behemoth? That’s a good question. Probably not. But I’m floating the idea, putting it into the ether, and letting the wind catch and carry it along. I actually have something much larger in the back of my mind for next April that, honestly, sort of scares me in its scope. If I survive that, I’ll revive this notion. Let’s just say that other idea involves one million teen boys.
Yeah, I said a million.
But forget that, let’s stick closer to the then-and-now. For years I lived next door to a jazz musician. At the time he was struggling but he’s since played Newport and held down a weekly gig at a club in NYC. We weren’t close but every once in a while I’d go next door and listen to him and his band rehearse. Recently, and totally by accident, I came across a recording he’d done live. It’s weird how you don’t see or hear someone for 20 years but in their music you can hear something of their personality, unmistakable and unique traveling across the years as fresh as yesterday. Those memories triggered other dormant memories of nights in jazz clubs slick or grungy, young guys and old guys, and what you can see in the music even with your eyes closed or, as is more often the case these days, when listening to a recording.
fortissimo
three chords in
bop be-bopalready you can tell
the cat’s youngevicting melody
with extraneous executionskilled stamina
precision pouncingcold quartz certainty
atomically accuratewhere an old cat
would hang backlet the notes linger
foreplay the memoriesa syrupy rendezvous
with soft clay keysbending emulsive light
through the sustainone sculpts the breeze
the other blows
It’s Poetry Friday and you can catch plenty of other cats jammin’ over at Biblio File this week. Oh, and what does everyone think about an International Poetry Month in October?
There’s National Poetry Month in April, but I love an international one in October! Thanks for sharing– I must also apologize for missing you in my earlier roundup.
i know canada has has a national poetry month in april, but i don’t see why it can’t go international, offset by six months.
no worries about the roundup thing.
How could I be opposed to an idea such as that? I discovered that World Poetry Day used to be celebrated in October anyway. National Poetry Day is still celebrated on Oct. 7th in the U.K. Maybe you’re on to something.
how did i not come across this before? world poetry day in the middle of the month (the 15th) would be awesome. and if the wikipedia can be trusted, holding an international celebration during the month of virgil’s birth makes a lot more sense than april, which was chosen because…?
Amazingly, there is a site that lists poets’ birthdays: http://aprilbirthdaysofpoets.wordpress.com/ (Here’s April — it does have Shakespeare) http://octoberbirthdaysofpoets.wordpress.com/ (October)
Love Oct 15 as World Poetry Day, because that’s my birthday! But ANY WPD would be great, too. And World Poetry Month. I’m with you, though. Hate to see something as broad as poetry stuffed into a day or even a month. But if it gets it any attention from people who usually ignore it, I guess it’s a great cause.
Your poem rocks–and I’m not even a fan of jazz. I really love
evicting melody
atomically accurate
and
one sculpts the breeze
Very cool comparison between two styles. Thanks for sharing!