Riffs Are Invocations

 

An epitaph for a jazz scholar:

 

Riffs are invocations,
Odes direct to soul,
Brief improvisations,
Each a perfect whole.
Rhythms subtly shift
The syncopated rhymes,
Grace the complex gift
Of this, my own sweet times.
Let me be their chronicler,
Days of seers and signs.

 

© by Nicholas Gordon

 

Audio and Video Music: Runnin Partner. By Aaron Lieberman. Music free to use at YouTube. Illustration Credit: AI.

 

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/riffsa.html. For more epitaphs, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/epitaphs.html .

Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz

January 25, 2021

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is music.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A number poem for a ninety-five-year-old jazz critic and aficionado:

Now is just the time for non-stop jazz,
Is just the perfect time to bop one's beep!
Ninety-five's the time for razzmatazz,
Enduring syncopation, life offbeat,
The music wailing, as it always has,
Years and years more life on old Beale Street.

Forget the rap, the punk, the rock and roll!
If the legs give way, the mind still swings,
Vividly in sync with funky soul,
Easing on down songs the moment sings.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/nowisj.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html.

This week’s theme: Music.
January 25: Now Is Just the Time for Non-Stop Jazz