BIRD, STRINGS, BIG CHIEF: 100: HARLEM
(For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
By Raymond Nat Turner
Gathering witnesses, bearing beautiful collisions--
Kansas City, New Orleans, Harlem—in Harlem. Only
Harlem fetes YardBird in Marcus Garvey Park! Only
Harlem has Big Easy Chief of Congo Nation do the
honors! Still a COVID 19 scene: Black masking’s an
Act of communal resistance…
Still a COVID 19 scene—virus variations playing
“Giant Steps” like complicated compositions of Monk
Still a COVID 19 scene—greed driven confederate
governors playing lives like simple-sounding songs,
“Mississippi Hotdog,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars--
and Bars…”
Spy Boys check Jazz Tribe temps and statuses--
buying Big Chief time to procure and secure
Suspenders. Time to adjust invisible headdress and
prepare sacred songs for meeting The Peoples’ Tribe.
Charlie Parker’s music’s magic! Blues magnet
gathering grassroots, salt of the earth—Harlem’s finest--
shavings of steel, hardened by white heat and hammer…
A decrescendo drizzle morphs into perfect prelude; Into
micro climate mist—handing humidity a rare defeat.
Weather’s a bittersweet reminder of impermanence.
Change—spiraling lower to higher—birth to death; reminding
us who are “Just Friends,” “Now’s The Time” to connect—this
Evening’s the only time we own…
Older gentlemen—second wave Jitterbugs—muscle
memories, Lindy Hop to Bebop honor the moment.
They select skilled, younger partners to swing, spin,
twirl; showing off middle year bodies more
Beautiful than perfect: cleavage, calves and sculpted
thighs revealed as multicolored knee-high skirts rise
Maybe they couldn’t keep Malcolm alive or hold on to
Houses grandparents paid off. But tonight they hold on
to one another—hold on to Charlie Parker—Bird with strings
Attached…
(For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
By Raymond Nat Turner
Gathering witnesses, bearing beautiful collisions--
Kansas City, New Orleans, Harlem—in Harlem. Only
Harlem fetes YardBird in Marcus Garvey Park! Only
Harlem has Big Easy Chief of Congo Nation do the
honors! Still a COVID 19 scene: Black masking’s an
Act of communal resistance…
Still a COVID 19 scene—virus variations playing
“Giant Steps” like complicated compositions of Monk
Still a COVID 19 scene—greed driven confederate
governors playing lives like simple-sounding songs,
“Mississippi Hotdog,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars--
and Bars…”
Spy Boys check Jazz Tribe temps and statuses--
buying Big Chief time to procure and secure
Suspenders. Time to adjust invisible headdress and
prepare sacred songs for meeting The Peoples’ Tribe.
Charlie Parker’s music’s magic! Blues magnet
gathering grassroots, salt of the earth—Harlem’s finest--
shavings of steel, hardened by white heat and hammer…
A decrescendo drizzle morphs into perfect prelude; Into
micro climate mist—handing humidity a rare defeat.
Weather’s a bittersweet reminder of impermanence.
Change—spiraling lower to higher—birth to death; reminding
us who are “Just Friends,” “Now’s The Time” to connect—this
Evening’s the only time we own…
Older gentlemen—second wave Jitterbugs—muscle
memories, Lindy Hop to Bebop honor the moment.
They select skilled, younger partners to swing, spin,
twirl; showing off middle year bodies more
Beautiful than perfect: cleavage, calves and sculpted
thighs revealed as multicolored knee-high skirts rise
Maybe they couldn’t keep Malcolm alive or hold on to
Houses grandparents paid off. But tonight they hold on
to one another—hold on to Charlie Parker—Bird with strings
Attached…
|
|