where to begin
maybe with the small cracks
in her skin
every afternoon
and again soon
she sat down
in a kitchen
basket on her lap
whilst you heard
the water
dripping from the tap
she peeled potatoes
part of her daily chores
that earthy fragrance
ingrained in her pores
taking out the pits
with a tiny knife
the homely joys
she thought
of her daily life
unaware
you look at me
with your subtle stare
I try very hard
to pretend
that I don’t really care…
her freckles
are like stars
on a pale canvas
copper asterisks
spread evenly
matching the colour
of her hair
imbedded in her skin
splendiferous
and fair
I lay
on my settee
looking at the sky
I ponder
and wonder
if all will be for nothing
as we ultimately die
you planted
a love seed in my heart
that sprouted
and grew
into a colorful spring flower
which makes me smile
and happy
every
waking
hour
I look up you
cause you’re my brother
stuck inside
our pregnant mother
I look up to you
your face
lights up
the room
as it’s burning
with love
warm
the sort
I cherish
the kind
I embrace
your face
Today I’m featuring a jazz musician who isn’t that well known amongst many jazz lovers but to me this saxophone beast is as good as any of the famous players.
He has a very rebellious and sometimes humorous way of playing and is never boring. An effusive, dynamically gifted jazz saxophonist I can listen to for hours and hours, for days on end…
James Carter was born on January 3 1969 in Detroit , Michigan, and learned to play under the tutelage of Donald Washington, becoming a member of his youth jazz ensemble Bird-Trane-Sco-NOW!! As a young man, Carter attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, becoming the youngest faculty member at the camp. He began playing at age 11 and studied early on with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. A prodigy, he progressed quickly. He first toured Scandinavia with the International Jazz Band in 1985 at the age of 16. At age17 he joined Wynton Marsalis on tour.
On May 31, 1988, at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Carter was a last-minute addition for guest artist Lester Bowie, which turned into an invitation to play with his new quintet (forerunner of his New York Organ Ensemble) in New York City that following November at the now defunct Carlos 1 jazz club. This was pivotal in Carter’s career, putting him in musical contact with the world, and he moved to New York two years later. Carter issued no less than six recordings under his own name between 1993 and 2000, all of them with different focuses, from a set of standards, Conversin’ with the Elders in 1995, to an electric funk record, Layin’ in the Cut, to a simultaneously released set in tribute to Django Reinhardt, Chasin the Gypsy. Three years later, he honored the legendary Billie Holiday with Gardenias for Lady Day.
He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the late 1980s, playing saxophones, flute, and clarinets. On his album Chasin’ the Gypsy (2000), he recorded with his cousin, the jazz violinist Regina Carter.
Carter has won DownBeat magazine’s Critics and Readers Choice award for baritone saxophone several years in a row. He has performed, toured and played on albums with Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Frank Lowe & the Saxemble, Kathleen Battle, the World Saxophone Quartet, Cyrus Chestnut, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Mingus Big Band.
Carter is an authority on vintage saxophones, and he owns an extensive collection of such instruments, including one formerly played by Don Byas.
“One of the most charismatic and powerful soloists in jazz,” per the New York Times, Carter harbors a command of his instruments that is astonishingly complete, though he only employs that technique in the service of canny ideas. Even when he appears on the verge of shattering his horn, overblowing rapid-fire lines to otherworldly effect, he’s evoking early jazz, jump blues, the avant-garde and other lessons residing inside his vast, scholarly knowledge of the music of the African-American experience.
Check him out (or not):
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas
if you can’t leave with a laugh
try and stay with a smile…
When you wash a shirt or a pair of pants or anything in your washing machine don’t put it on the highest spin cycle. It will become too dry and so your clothes may come out too creasy.
The next thing you do is hang it on a hanger (don’t use pegs!) and due to the weight of the water left in your garment it shall pull most of the creases out. There are all sorts of hangers one can purchase.
Extra tip: put jumpers (sweaters) on a flat surface as hanging could well stretch the fabric!
Who needs an iron ☺️
Stay tuned for more…
I love you
yes I really do,
but you always reek
of wee and poo
there is always space
for a kind face
with your smile
you’ll leave a happy trace
We don’t always need a face
round
and bound
by muscle
veins
and nerves
I am drawn
to the sight
of your irresistible curves
and so are all
the droolers
secret admirers
and unintentional perves
you will be good
you will be fine
you will be wet
when your lips
touch mine
we may end up in bed
my garden
full of roses
with all their
silly poses
I don’t think
too much
about it
it’s just my diagnosis
get on your knees
and colour
the lands
do it with verve
and the patience
it demands…
I spot
your hormones
I see them
in your spots
overhead
watchful ornament
reached for the top
to some extent
old ladder
hanging bare
bears witness
a silent stare
Witty words 