I Remember Clilfford - Philip Levine

Wakening in a small room,
the walls high and blue, one high window
through which the morning enters,
I turn to the table beside me painted a think white. There instead
of a clock is a tumbler of water,
clear and cold, that wasn't there
last night. Someone quietly entered, and now I see the white door
slightly ajar and around three sides
the light on fire. I remember once
twenty-seven years ago walking
the darkened streets
of my home town when up ahead
on Joy Road at the Bluebird of Happiness
I heard over the rumble of my own head
for the first time the high clear trumpet
of Clifford Brown calling us all
to the dance he shared with us
such a short time. My heart quickened
and in my long coat, breathless
and stumbling, I ran
through the swirling snow
to the familiar sequened door
knowing it would open on something new.
=================================
Philip Levine (b.1928) has written more than 18 books of poetry, two books of translations and a book of essays. He currently resides in Fresno, California. The poem was inspired by a Benny Golson tune of the same name. Clifford Brown was a masterful trumpeter and jazz master who died too young.

You can find video of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with trumpeter Lee Morgan playing I Remember Clifford here.

As far as I know there is no film of Clifford Brown but you can hear him with Max Roach playing one of his compositions (and one of my favorite tunes of all time) here.

Ciao Bella Chocolate Sorbet - Elaine Equi

has a dense
chewy

water-to-chocolate
ratio

as if a whole
devil's food cake

were dissolved
in each scoop.

Delivers Elvis-like
indulgence

for only 120 calories.
By the last spoonful,

your whole nervous system
and aura

will be permeated
by the ancient Mayan God.

You will see
through the eyes of Chocolate.


==============================
Elaine Equi (b. 1953) is a Chicago-born poet currently living in New York and teaching creative writing at the City College of New York and the New School.

Two Poems by Alden Marin

The Refills Never Last- Alden Marin

At the coffee place
I ask for a refill
"more Viennese please..."
and the girl
looks at me like"haven't you had enough?
"that worldless pause of hers
sans smile;
just another
of the morning's imagined problems
like the newly painted garbage cans
in the tidy park
with clouds and peace symbols
on them - (why those?)
and a dog off leash (a Beagle)
that keeps begging
for scraps - and
of course, I give them
surrpetitiously
against the owner's wishes...
Such is lifein this town with its issues
and what you make of them
on a day when summer
cannot come fast enough
and the refills never last.


A Different Person Altogether- Alden Marin

One morning
there - at my feet
lay a half black
half orange leaf
that made me
think of you --
divided, untethered
apart from the whole
but available;
imploring
and beckoning
to be held...
I picked
the fallen one up
and put it gently
in my car
Now, two days later
the leaf has turned brown
and lies inexpressively
on the floor --a different person altogether.

=========================
Alden Marin is a poet, hiker, musician, surfer and painter who lives in Malibu and Pacific Pallisades, California. Much of his inspiration comes from surfing, hiking... and sitting around drinking coffee.

www.aldenmarin.com is his art, poetry and chapbook website. There's a fun YouTube of Alden discussing his paintings live with TV kitchen gadget personality Ron Polpeil, of PocketFisherman fame.

I will add that Alden is a great supporter of the poem of the day. He contributes much appreciated original work and suggestions every year.

Comment - Dorothy Parker

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong.
And I am Marie of Roumania


=========================
Oh, that wide-eyed naif Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)! She wrote fiction, poetry and criticism with a scathing but intelligent wit. She was a member of the famous Algonquin Roundtable . A bit of not-so-trivial information. She bequeathed her entire literary estate to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to further the civil rights movement. When Dr. King was assassinated the estate became property of the NAACP.

Spring is like a perhaps hand - e.e. cummings

Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window, into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and placing
carefully there a strange
thing and known thing here)and

changing everything carefully

spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and

without breaking anything.

=======================

Edward Estling Cummings (1894-1962) used a break with traditional form, spelling, punctuation and syntax to create a new means of expression.

All Things Pass - Lao-Tzu

All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night
All things pass
What always changes?

Earth...sky...thunder...
mountain...water...
wind...fire...lake...

These change
And if these do not last

Do man's visions last?
Do man's illusions?

Take things as they come

All things pass



(from translations adapted by Timothy Leary [1920-1996])===============================
Lao-Tzu (ca. 6th century BC) is traditionally considered the author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of Taoism. Timothy Leary was a Harvard professor and advocate for the use of LSD to expand conciousness. He compiled this version of the poem from a collection of English translations. (And a big shout-out to George Harrison where ever you are.)

Come to the Edge - Christopher Logue

Come to the edge.

We might fall.

Come to the edge.

It's too high!

COME TO THE EDGE!

And they came,

And he pushed,

And they flew.

====================
Christopher Logue (b.1926) is a poet, playwright and screen writer. He is an early pioneer of jazz poetry and political poetry. He has produced a series of poster poems for the British Labour Party among other causes. Come to the Edge is an example of a poster poem. It was written for an Institute of Contemporary Art exhibition of the work of Guillaume Apollinaire. Logue explains, "The poem was written in - I think - 1968. Michael Kustow curated and exhibition of Apollinaire's work at the ICA and asked for a poem to go on a poster to advertise the show. I cannot say that the poem was the result of my reading Apollinaire, more by the idea of the man, his life, as much as his poetry. A daring figure."