Erren Geraud Kelly’s most recent poem to appear here was Blue in Green (June 2015).
Ferguson, Missouri
By Erren Geraud Kelly
A riot is the voice of the unheard.
–Rev Dr Martin Luther King
mingus’ upright bass
rumbling anarchy like a
volcano
miles’ trumpet launching rockets
at the status
quo
billie’s voice like fire,
burning the rope, freeing
strange fruit from the
poplar trees
ella scatting like a
chainsaw against
cutting
conformity
john coltrane saying “no”
to lethargy, releasing
god
from a saxophone’s
wail
jaco pastorius
slapping hate with
machine-gun electric
bass
making cops say “please, please, please.”
like james
herbie hancock making
harmony from black
and white keys
strong as molotov
cocktails
art blakey’s drums
shattering harder than
a
cop’s night stick
keith jarrett telling
looters
to steal happiness
through sounds
joe williams
singing a balm of
peace
Puts me in a place where I am in the past and the future all at the same time.
What a wonderful poem! So great I read it several times. Absolutely magnificent!!!
Beautiful use of Jazz immortals within a well versed poem. “Singing a balm of peace” indeed. Well done.