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Voices growling in the onyx air
say, Coltrane, you better
run with the wind,
when all the time I know it’s just
air forced out.
Chasing down a soul’s source
isn’t an effect of force but
of necessity. Imagine me
saxless and bloated
with jazz my black belly on the brink
of exploding. A breeze of breath
can’t get me blazing
in the dark. I tried slipping
spirits into my blood
to wash out the fright
and then hustling for miles in synch
with shattered nights. The pressure
laughed like mad to be free
because it must be. I had to drop jazz
for God blow
dirges for demons make music
to keep myself sane. Now
I move along like light
etching out
shadows unaffected
by the wind.
A track from Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (the second best jazz album ever) inspired this poem. While his interest in music borders on obsession, Dillion rarely listen to it while writing and hasn’t written many music-related poems. Even though this poem was an exception for him, its rhythm and tone are completely different than the song’s. Nevertheless, he says, there are thematic similarities dealing with the unexplained urge that artists have to create something, and ultimately, to discover his or her purposes for doing so.
Jonathan Dillion earned his MFA from Old Dominion University. He teaches writing at both ODU and TCC-Chesapeake, and lives in Norfolk, VA with his wife, Stacy.
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