Month: May 2006

I don’t post enough poetry. Last night we had an exercise in class called, ode to spring, and here is the poem that came from it.

A landscape of white desert
Nothing but howling of the wind
being torn by sleeping claws of trees
Each wooden stump a tombstone
engraved “2005 A devoted Mother”
But in this time of rest and death
the sun conspires with
the moon, the sky and stars
And with wiccan like chants
and native tribal dance
they splatter the ground with
a concoction of love
so powerful to wake the infinite slumber
And slowly from faded calling
she claws through the soil
With sweat and ache
her joints pop and muscles shake
Finally she peaks just one finger
above the ground
Above her white grave
And on the fingers tip a bud of pink.

Garr over at Presentation Zen has a great article on the Lessons Jazz can give everyday life. These lessons might come from the music world but can be used in any situation where 2 people are connecting.

1. “The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen.” (Duke Ellington)
2. “Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can’t be taught.” (Paul Desmond)
3. “Don’t bullshit… just play.” (Wynton Marsalis)
4. “If they act too hip, you know they can’t play shit!” (Louis Armstrong)
5. “Master your instrument. Master the music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play.” (Charlie Parker)
6. “It’s taken me all my life to learn what not to play.” (Dizzy Gillespie)
7. “You can play a shoestring if you’re sincere.” (John Coltrane)
8. “When people believe in boundaries, they become part of them.” (Don Cherry)
9. “Anyone can make the simple complicated. Creativity is making the complicated simple.” (Charles Mingus)
10. “I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain’t music…” (Billie Holiday)
11. “A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.” (Herbie Hancock)