Long before the first hip cat
stepped out -- his strut sublime;
before Eve found a way
to make temptation a hot sound
man had to play,
after the first hot note
blown out of the darkness
pulling light from the spot --
reflection of a horn
burning deep from scream to moan,
when the garden was finally closed
boogie woogie started infiltratin’
cookin’ and sex raised the apple head,
life was an obstacle to be smoothed
by the fluid gifts of music makin’ heart sing.
Come the beat made complete, born
on foreign shores, brought to this land
where the pagans wore silk and claimed
to be the civilizing force the Lord demand’.
'til horns brought the walls crumblin' down.
Out of fields, caught in the soul,
brought to the city where changes grow,
the beat joined with horns
in the bars where men’s souls cry.
Music sings the truth when all else is lies.
Bad times, blues, dixieland rag, good times,
dancing fools. big bands brought the solo
setting the music to be for a man to blow out
all the feelings and passions set free.
Fats Waller, Cab Calloway caught in sly humor
the beginning of a revolution turn this nation around
Woman singing and talking
‘bout the man that done them wrong.
Standing with the mic -- most missed
when a woman sang -- a revolution born.
Men hypnotized by a voice had to listen
as she laid down all the pain and hurt done to her
by their brothers in the street.
Call out with me the joy of Jazz.
Call out with me the pain in Jazz.
Call out with me in hallelujahs and amens
the deep inner beats the music
shows we live together in.
Let us raise our hands at the bandstands
dance with me brother and sisters
out on the deltas, on the worn bar floors,
on the patchwork linoleum in kitchens
and the concrete and tar of city streets --
the revolution is finally here.
Jazz will slide from the faithful
and possess the pagans in their gilded halls
call out the trumpets and trombones
ache with the alto sax
until the music ... emotional fabric
descends to cleanse the soul
lets us know we are all saved
when we walk together to the dance hall.
2:00 PM
Aug. 30, 2008
Alexandria, VA
Author notes
I have let my madness get in front of my good sense. Can't wait to try this at and open mic. I know I will be back to the drawing board in no time. I would of been a preacher if I hadn't chosen to be a Friend. 
In a list
Please tell me what you think, what it makes you feel, how you are moved.
Comments
1 - 40 of 40
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Dammit, daddy, you done did this good, flapping that trap like that 'ol Tom Cat. Is you is or is you ain't Zoot Suit pimping like. Ewww, weee! This stink so good. Write on, brother!
Dez
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I just wanted to lay out the skat so it could attract all the hip cats and blow the straights, late comers at the gate and all the other trippers in fate with a state
ment about how it is meant to be when we are all free to hit the lick the way it is instead of heeding the mean street blues that sold out to a fantasy.
So ...
Hold on to your hat and believe that where it is at is in the heart from the very start and give your love, with blessings from above, to everyone you meet whose heart can keep a beat.
In the groove and someday top line in the news,
Tom B.
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This made me run to my turntable! Every word is beautifully thought. What is more beautiful than music! I would love for you to read my recent entries... I've missed your enlightened comments!
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I got the latest.
This is made for the voice parade. I will read it next Sunday we can see how it plays. Glad to see you smiling on my page again.
Love, Tom B.
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This one was fun and engaging. That doesn't surprise me when it's one of your poems though. I could see you as a preacher and you'd probably be pretty good at it too. Did you get the chance to try this one at an open mic? You'll have to tell me how well it's recieved. I'm sure that they'll love it.
. Rewarded 6
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This one won't get read till the 14th. The first open mic I can get to easily is at a Bar in Arlington. I took the Strong Campbell Self inventory (shows how much your are suited for certain areas of work by how similar you are to successful people in likes and dislikes. Very reliable) I scored most like a priest, within one standard deviation.
This is both through the music and a sense of revival. That is the reason for the evangelical voice. Thanks for the pleasure of your company.
Love Tom B.
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Well Tomis
I can not begin to say how cool this was! I would think this would blow some minds if used as preaching tool, in a fun fantastic way.
This was outstanding!
I was reading your comments and just got back from a church service that was full of this thrilling energy.
Enjoyed my time there tonight.
Although like you i enjoy my alone time with God too.
Now how did i figure you to like Tom Petty...
Music moves the soul doesn't it? It takes me away, love good blues.
Dance away my friend
Hey you said you travel around reading your poems ...you are not far from West Virginia??
Maybe think on it would love to hear you at an open mic and meet my my friend at least once in my life.
Okay over all this made me feel good alittle pep to my step and the meaning was great!
I like this side of you as well.
hugs
and
love,
~Lisa~
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Glad you enjoyed this. I have done the preaching voice in impromptu ad libs but never really gotten it written before. I have heard black poets use it in their readings and felt I should as well. I haven't been reading well lately. It has been a source of frustration. Maybe it has been the problems with my eye stealing my voice. I don't know. I look forward to trying this out.
I read once in Fredrick Md. at a coffee shop up there. It is on a Wednesday night, once a month. I could send you the web site.
Yes, there is always a way and you are not that far away.
Love, Tom B.
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OOh ooooh, I'm scared of you!
LOL
This is so not like you!
Or maybe it is, and I haven't seen it lately!
Fantastic, fun, and sweet as can be.
Rave on, Mr. Jazz Man
Love,
jin
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I am a multifaceted man
I love the stage, no big surprise. I wrote this to preform and wanted to capture the oratory styles of gospel and evangelical preachers I have seen. I love music without regard to style only quality. I have preferences but right now I am listening to Barry White followed by Tom Petty. Besides, would you want me to be easily known orlike yourself a series of mysteries to be unfolded. Hmmm-m-m
Love, Tom B.
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as a musician, i like this poem. it brings with it the soul of rythym and a picture of the times. "the revolution IS finally here"
. Rewarded 4
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Baby it has been a long time coming. Shake the rhythm through your hips. Don't let no one stop you from being hip, from displaying how it plays and stays in blood and bone.
I got another called "Jazz" that I played with a band. It sang sweet and got compliments from the people I was playing with. couldn't ask for more Thanks for enjoying this and taking the time to share with me. Pieces like this aren't just blown off like a playful whistle. They take time and I probably still have lines to refine that I will discover when I read it to a crowd. Again thank you.
Peace & Light,
Tom B.
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Superb plus
An intriguing write, indeed. By any chance are you also a musician, as well as, a poet? Very well written.
. Rewarded 4
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I would love to write lyrics for someone who could supply the music. Alas I never learned to play the notes at best, all I can do is stick a needle in the groove or give the CD the spin. Glad you enjoyed my enchanting Pavane. I hope the applause rain when I release upon my audience at an open mic I go to, just, by perchance.
Peace & Light
Tom B. -
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Yes, that it was. Good luck in your open mic reading. You are quite welcome.
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A strong and emotive piece for the open mic and should do well.....sorry I can't get to see! Not had opportunity to hear open mic here as yet....not sure my work would be suitable for that type of event either! lol. This one though should hold your crowd I believe! Well done!
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The truth: you never know what will hold a crowd, until you are reading it to them. I like open mics because I write most of poetry to be heard. I acknowledge there are some that just don't work outloud. Still, most of the time, it is the reader and I practice with a tape deck at home in the hopes of doing the poem justice.
Thanks for your faith in my work
Love,
Tom B.
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A strong write full of passion. Nicely done.
Nevadapoet
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Thanks. I try.
Love,
Tom B.
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Do you do open mic!
You didn't tell me you did spoken words...this is a perfect specimen for such so where will you be performing this peice so I can at least be there in spirit.
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I only write to read out loud. Well, that is not always true now. But, the lyrcisim and the way I pace my pieces as well as my attack on an image is all in the reading of the piece to and audience. I need to work on my presentations because I have really been off lately.
I have done poetry with a jazz group and we toured around Charlottesville and Fairfax, Va and Washington DC. There is a reading around here with Jazz musicans that will back you up but it is not the same as practicing and developing a presentation. I will try this one first at a bar called on IOTA , the second Sunday of the month. I might drop into Busboys and Poets but I don't know.
Thanks for getting a kick out of this.
Love,
Tom B
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And all that Jazz!
Creatively conjured my friend! Nice voice throughout! Great blending of the jazzman-preacher! Stylistic write! Good job! Best regards
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i am still developing the preacher style. This is one of the places where I felt it could support the poem and the message there in.
Probably still needs lots of work. This is part of the reason I still want to read it and hear it at a an open mic. Thanks for the support.
Love, Tom B.
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Genesis, how it all began. you trace the history of jazz so beautifully & so vivid I can actually visualize the scenes.Good luck.
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Thanks. I wanted to do this like the Gospel being spread from the mouth of a preacher. Come to the music and be saved for no other path will be so well played. Amen.
Peace & Light,
Tom B.
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loved it
"burning deeply from scream to moan,"
if only i could hear that moan of that horn....
"Music sings the truth when all else is lies.
"
isn't that the truth?! and thats why i can't seem to live without it.
"ache with the alto sax "
God you know how to put all on paper.
"descends to cleanse the soul
lets us know we are all saved
when we walk together to the dance hall. "
bringing it all together with that last period. mmm... i could just hear that moan of those blues.... bring it on and lets go dacne. You just know the mood, dont you...lol
loved this just simply loved it
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Thanks. This is, in a sense, a call to arms. Music in gerneral, but Jazz specifically hits us in the gut. It moves us to places we have not been before and touches us as nothing else can. Glad you enjoyed.
Love,
Tom B.
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Wow! This dances on my tongue read aloud!! LOVE the jazzy tone to this, and the cadence it produces. The laguage is stellar, and true to the tone. What a wonderful piece, my friend. Thanks for sharing.
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I wanted to get this out in a jazz rhythmn. I will read it at an open mic and make more adjustments I am sure. Glad you enjoyed the way this runs on the tongue.
Love, Tom B.
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I love jazz & Cab Calloway. This brought back memories of me sitting with my late father-in-law just listening and tapping in time.
Enjoyed the alot Tom.
Thanks for sharing
Love
Juls
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I love jazz and the history that surrounds it. I love how it has developed its own aura that steps past most boundries that contain other forms of music. There is a lot of slang in Cab Calloway that was a two edged sword so even while it had that swing it was revolutionary at the same time.
Love, Tom B.
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The sublime rhythm of jazz is just felt through this and the beat is one that makes you feel like tapping your feet to it. Interesting for you, I see the holiday did you good. Love,C
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Why I think you touched all the elements of Jazz! Come see my entry, too
There is a wondrous link
Trumpet and flute duet
Nature boy -
I couldn't write as much as I wanted to. We were three in a one bed room and there was no place to go for quiet. So I just accepted it was not to be.
Love, Tom B.
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I like the way this glides from root beginnings
to emotion that made people listen to the
feeling that steals the heathens from their
seats, demanding they meet on the dance floor.
Even the words move in rhythm and seemed to pick
up tempo as I read further on. Interesting the
way religion is surreptiously woven in. "Pagans"
being meant quite opposite the Christian branding.
If this doesn't gain much attention, I would have
to say someone isn't really listening. Blue
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I chose pagans cause part of the reason for slavery was to save their heathen souls. I love chants and "call and response." I am a lover of gospel and I have long known the blues. I love to move when the music is playing and can dance when the music touches the bones. I know the preaching styles of charismatic, southern baptist and they are a flavor in my styles. I find it amusing that in the end what calls to me loudest is Silent Meeting.
Love, Tom B.
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For some reason, Tom, I have an easier time seeing you dancing in a meadow or on the kitchen lineoleum much easier than I can imagine you in a dance hall or a smoky jazz bar...hear the hallelujahs of angels gathering breath on the wind and winding it around your feet. And there would be no tree of knowlege to end up casting you out of the garden, to steal the music, or the tenderness from the love you have to share. It's sort of a heaven on earth thing...music. It does tell the truth, and foresakes the ragged edges. I think you caught this in a way I wouldn't begin to know how to put into a poem.
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No, I don't haunt bars much
but I will go to them if the music calls to me. I have a part of me that can preach like a southern baptist minister and I love the way the church can sound when the pastor is on a roll. I love the sounds of gospel and how they touch my soul. I think it is funny that I chose and need the silence of a Quaker Meeting so.
Love, Tom B.
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Wow, My goodness Sir Tomis...this is one fantastic hit...your going to blow them away....
Sing on...
Love it
Blessings
~A~
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I created this in the hopes I could catch a little of the flavor the time period. I failed. It caught me and took me to another place where I hope that I did it all the justice it deserved.
Love, Tom B.
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