Long Ellington Poems

(Sam Trio stands at the mic, snaps fingers lightly, takes a drag on a Marlboro, and smiles to the crowd) Dig this, we’re going back in time, way back to the smokey jazz clubs and...

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My mirror breaks, I pick up a shard,

But find it bizarre that all I see is nothing but scars, 

My veins filled with black tar, shaking, beaten and starved,

I carve your name to my arm,...

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He plays jazz as if he invented it
Arpeggios augmented, minored and majored
Transferring from one chord to another
Like flashes of lightning extracting emotional pearls 
all from from such a young mind

One marvels how and from where...

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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...

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Aint Throwin my'self off no bridges
God made the Ocean for the fish

And at the risk of soundin' religious
Suicide wont be gettin' his wish

Sister Mercer, sister Bailey,
Sing me through this

 'Nough Blues in my suitcase
To make...

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Puttin on the Ritz - Just for You

Remember when I used to be dead broke,
and everyone laughed cause my dreams were a big joke?
Well I married a rich fellow and I’m rolling in dough.
Now I’m...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Blow your gills out
with Miles Davis, mellow n kind of blue
relax in black 'n white ways 'n days

all; all the jazz kit

Go on a blues Holiday Billie
away with the Jones’s Nora
get some Rays with Charles

Lenard...

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Ellington, Ellington, bulldog of mine.
How dare you have the sensitivities so fine?
I’ll get to Grandma-sit you just this one time.
I’ll dress you in robes of purple and lime.

Ellington, Ellington, do your one big trick.
Waddle over...

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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...

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I wish I was at home now drinking beer
Sitting at my warped wooden table
With a view of the village clock tower
& the little dog snapping at fat
Autumn flies
I wish I could sleep through
All the slow...

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