Posted On The Passing Of Dave Brubeck

JAZZ DREAM

I want to dream

            in jazz

            – not short fiction

                        with banal story lines..

I want to dream instead

            in riffs of sound

            – notes, hot, cool, sweet, and blue.

No more dramas         

            like last night’s tired script

            with characters better forgot

            and plots devoid of charm.

No, henceforth,

            I shall dream

            in jazz alone

Wes Montgomery’s reflective chords,

            the musing melodies of Thelonius Monk,

            and Cal Tjeder’s

                        nuanced vibes.

When the story has been told 

            or grown too stale for telling,

it’s time to close

            even the inward eye

and drift on Coltrane’s

            “Russian Lullaby”

            time to dream

            exclusively

            in jazz.

Wrote this for a reading at a jazz bar in Macon, GA. It was still on their wall when I left. it doesn't mention Dave Brubeck, but I like to think he would have enjoyed it or at least the sentiment.