Best Duke Ellington Poems
He wipes the tables clean
Picks up the dirty wears
Take out the garbage
Stock the fridge with beers
Cleans the bath room
And mops the floors
Sweep outside on the sidewalks
Before he the doors
Sounds like a lot of work
But he enjoys it everyday
It’s the cotton club
With great jazz music every day
In this boarded up building
On 142nd street and Lenox Avenue
In the central of Harlem
His dreams has come true
In a sense it was segregated
White folks patron the establishment
And the black performers
The will provide the entertainment
And he heard the best musicians
The likes of Duke Ellington, cab Callaway
Nat king Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, count Basie
Josephine baker, mea west, Billie holiday
Some of the great performers he seen
Many comes from all over everyday
The cotton club is renowned worldwide
It’s where the best black musicians play
He thinks he is truly bless
And in his heart it’s what he felt
For just a poor Harlem boy
The music is the soul of his wealth
He remember it like yesterday
But it was 5o years ago
As he passes by the cotton club
He can still hear the music inside the door
He sits in the park watching his grandkids
As they play in a yellow plastic sub
And his mind wonders back as a kid
In the Harlem cotton club
i tried to notice without noticing.
i tried to fit in by not standing out,
but i knew i was different.
their walls much bigger.
their yards much nicer.
in elementary it seemed everyone
was in the same class: lower class,
but this was junior high across town,
on white burb avenue
and i was poor.
they weren't.
of course i resisted.
i mixed and matched the clothes i had
as if i was a designer preparing
for the new season.
they let me into their world
for a little while.
i hung out in huge basements,
chilled in hot tubs with bikini clad young hotties,
taking part in all the gossip.
until my illusion wavered
and they slowly pulled back--
as my clothes got holes in them,
as my shoes wore down,
as i grew out of all i had gotten
that one time my mom took me school shopping.
goodbye, Stephanie Bach.
goodbye, Anne Murry.
goodbye, Lori Larson.
years later i would remember them
at the most inopportune moments--
drunk in a dive bar in Harlem
talking to an ugly girl i was thinking about doing,
in the dirty bathroom of a crack house before i
put the pipe to my lips,
in line at the welfare office.
i think i was bitter for a while,
thinking about how they all probably owned homes
not far from each other and how they would
throw little upscale cocktail parties
around the holidays and kiss each other
on both cheeks when they greeted
but at the same time trying to stay hip by listening
to commercial rap and sexy pop music in their suv's.
yeah, bitter
drunk, and very early in the morning,
i came across a tiny neighborhood jazz bar
where a trio group had their hands
on the heads of everyone and was shaking them
to the electric sounds of their primitive instruments.
a boxing gym had less bobbing and weaving
than that jazz bar on the corner of 106th and broadway.
cats were healing up in the place that night.
my head was going ten rounds while my eyes were closed
when those girls popped up only for a second,
but they didn't fit the scene,
so for the first time, i felt sorry for them
before i forgot about 'em.
later, outside, the sign that said 106th st.
had another one below it that read
duke ellington boulevard
i stared at it, making room for a new memory.
goodbye, Stephanie Bach.
goodbye, Anne Murry.
goodbye, Lori Larson.
Kevin Solomon 9/9/2015
The Lion and the Crown
Cobalt blue goblet and the spangled gown
Black tie and high browns
Puttin on the Ritz
Flappers dancing the Charleston
Jazz by Count Basie and Duke Ellington
Crazy dance moves like the Black Bottom, the Shimmy and the Turkey Trot
And the Cake Walk
The Tango and the Bunny Hop
The Fox Trot and the Lindy Hop
Roaring cars filling the crowded streets
Zoot suits and reap pleats
Wide leg Oxford Bags and cuffed trousers
Waistcoats, suspenders, bow-ties and knickerbockers
Ladies wearing make-up, bobbed hair, short fringed skirts and drinking
Bright colored sweaters, patent-leather hair, feather head bands and smoking
The glitz of New York
Not the grime of Detroit
Superstars
Forgetting who their real friends are
Blinded by the glitter and gleam
Forgetting you are only a human being
Going where Harlem flits
No guts no grits
The fancy rich and famous showing their glitz
Forget about the misfits
And come on down to the Ritz
Written November 17, 2013
Fields of flowers
Rest around our heads
While photos of blood
Surround our beds
On pedestals we stand
Preaching to the world
Something foretold
By heretics in white
And neighbors in black
Who claim they already knew that
Rain beats down on my roof
To the tune of Duke Ellington
And to the Scat Man we dance
It's all we have left in this world
Penniless pockets
Play the vagabond game
While the vultures in Eden
Circle the insane
Who hear the angels sing
Refrains and quatrains
Who can be a spokesman
For those who cannot speak
A preacher for the downtrodden
A dollar dropped at hand
For the bum on Main and Port
Traveling through strife
No child or wife
To dedicate his life
No hope to beat his drum
No harp for strings he's strung
On the Seventh Day,
it is often written,
often said,
that the creator rested.......
I BEG TO DIFFER!!!!
Fore I believe that on the seventh day,
that he set at the helm of his creation called mother earth,
thinking humm what's missing?????
let me look ,let me search.........
He contemplated for a minute or two....
then he said I think I got it!
I want to create someone, some things that will be moving,
yet soothing and UPLIFTING
ENCHANTING!!!!
I want someone that the world will forever behold,
as the birds were singing and chirping ,
Ahhh music and notes!!!!!!!!
He created music and musicians!
Spread them all throughout time
with voices that could never be forgotten,
tones that still move,
melodies that fit every single mood!!!
Here's a little proof
He created
BACH, BHETTOVEN, MOZART, classical kings!!!
DUKE ELLINGTON, LOUIS AMSTRONG, ELLA FRIZGERALD and their jazzy legacies.
He was just getting started,
warming up.
He created ANITA BAKER, PATTI LABELLE, AND LUTHER VANDROSS TOO,
went on to make PRINCE and MICHEAL JACKSON, JAMES BROWN, AND ELVIS ALL NEW!!!
THE ROLLING STONES, OTIS REDDING, DINAH WASHINGTON, and of course a lady by the
name of Billie Holiday!!!!
When the angels ask are you done????
He said NO WAY!!!!
I got SO much more to make and include,
this could take a lifetime
relax and enjoy.
STAY TUNED!!!!!!!!!!!!
FAMOUS FATHERS
George Washington was the father of our country
James Brown the father of soul
Duke Ellington the father of jazz
Elvis of rock and roll
Each one of these men was famous
As history books will attest
But our Father who art in Heaven
Is the one we should know best
These other fathers, though famous
Have nothing but their reputation
But God, our Heavenly Father
Gave us the plan for our salvation
This was all made possible
By the death of His Son on the cross
He died for the sins of the world
So that none should have to be lost
But consider your earthly father
Remember all that he gave
Recall that he taught you of Jesus
Praying that you would be saved
So now through your Heavenly Father
Follow your earthly father's desire
Let the wonderful plan of salvation
Save you from the heat of hell's fire
Come and kneel at the altar
Let Jesus show you the way
This will honor your father
And you'll have a great Father's Day
Curtis Moorman
Father's Day 2004
Just listen to Satchmo,
Jams by Duke Ellington,
James Clay's moving tenor
John Coltrane's fine Post-Bop
Joyous uptempo tunes...
Jiggle hips like Jello!
Jump and jive, why don't cha?
Pleiades 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Joseph May
Date written: 10/15/2020
Note: "Satchmo" is the nickname of late, great Jazz legend, Louis Armstrong.
Today I’m thankful for swings
for those feelings of freedom and flying that it brings…
I think Duke Ellington understood
the wonders that they bring…
when he sang…
Life don’t mean a thing…
if it ain’t got that swing
Beyond the measure the traditions
claim they sort and seek
might they find, might they find
ooh-bah-doo-bah: ah-ooh-ah!
The backbeat was sorted from the
"First tones" thats what she called it.
There are 12 planets in this system.
Each with ait's own distinctive sound
and duration. The forebeat must
proceed the downbeat. All with in these
32 distinctive notes.
In music, a backbeat refers
to a rhythmic pattern where the second
and fourth beats in a 4/4
time signature are emphasized
32 Distinctive notes within one octave
beyond the twelve tone system
"backbeat"
--------------
With the intensity of passion
that one would expect to
affectionate and pleasurable
infatuation or obsession
unintrusive thoughts and
welcoming passions
where it neither draws lines
or recreate those things defined
sorta simple
an easy
pleasey
satisfying love
more than anything
much about nothing
just cool pleasing togetherness
thats what we're doing
"syncopation
--------------------
No drama
no foolish expectations
a lotta
ooh -ah yeah
and no
fouled-up communications
like it like this
tell me like that
love is what we're doing
Baby that's
where it's at
___________________________
"Poco Rallentando"
Curtis verses Julliard
Music Lessonaters Collaborations
of Sounds
--------------------------------------
May 13 2033