Jazz Poems

JAZZ BAND Play that thing, you jazz mad fools! Boil a skyscraper with a jungle Dish it to ‘em sweet and hot— Ahhhhhhhhh Rip it open then, sew it up, jazz band! Thick bass notesfrom a moon faced drum Saxophones moan, banjo strings hum High thin notes from the cornet’s throat Trombone snorting, bass horn snorting Short tan notes from the piano And the short tan notes from the piano Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Chopin gone screwy, Wagner with the blues Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Got a date with Satan—ain’t no time to lose Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Strut it in Harlem, let Fifth Avenue shake it slow Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Ain’t goin’ to heaven nohow— crowd up there’s too slow Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Plink, plank, plunk a plunk Plunk Do that thing, jazz band! Whip it to a jelly Sock it, rock it; heat it, beat it; then fling it at ‘em Let the jazz stuff fall like hail on king and truck driver queen and laundress, lord and laborer, banker and bum Let it fall in London, Moscow, Paris, Hongkong, Cairo, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Sidney Let it rub hard thighs, let it be molten fire in the veins of dancers Make ‘em shout a crazy jargon of hot hosannas to a Fiddle-faced jazz god Send Dios, Jehovah, Gott, Allah, Buddha past in a high stepping cake walk Do that thing, jazz band! Your music’s been drinking hard liquor Got shanghied and it’s fightin’ mad Stripped to the waist feedin’ ocean liner bellies Big burly bibulous brute Poet hands and bone crusher shoulders Black sheep or white? Hey, Hey! Pick it, papa Twee twa twee twa twa Step on it, black boy Do re mi fa so la ti do Boomp boomp Play that thing, you jazz mad fools!

FRANK MARSHALL DAVIS

from Jazz Poems | Selected and edited by Kevin Young

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