OK.
This is a jazz poem.
And who knows what that actually is.
But I got a chance in Boston, I used to live in Boston.
And they have a John Coltrane Memorial Concert every year.
And they have these wonderful musicians.
And they play Coltrane all day.
So at one point they decided they wanted spoken word
to be a part of that.
So they called me and said, you can come in
and you can do a poem about Coltrane,
a poem about a piece of Coltrane's music
or a poem with a piece of Coltrane's music behind you.
And of course I said, I have these stellar musicians,
I'll do that.
And they said, OK, figure out what piece you want
us to play while you do it.
So I go home and I put out the Coltrane CDs.
And you know, you're doing your piece over and it's all nice.
And all of a sudden it goes [SQUEAKING, SQUAWKING]..
You don't know what to do, right.
So I waited until the last minute in typical poetry style,
and showed up at the dress rehearsal with this piece.
And I said it once without the music.
The musicians came in the second time.
And they are truly magicians.
Musicians, I have utmost respect for.
They came right in and they played.
It was boom.
It was right on.
It was one of the best experiences
I've ever had with musicians.
And what they played was the third movement
of "A Love Supreme."
So if you guys could hum that while I do this.
[LAUGHTER]
This is for John Coltrane.
[INAUDIBLE]
OK, I'll start over.
[LAUGHTER]
[INAUDIBLE]
[LAUGHTER]
OK, anyway.
I always shudder when I pray.
Mama say the Lord enters you in stages.
First, like a lit match under your skin.
Then like an animal body through bone with soft teeth.
Mama said, lie still and wait for glory to consume you,
wrap its way into your mouth like a lover had
his finger on paradise knew the way with all his heart,
then lost it.
I always shudder when I pray.
So your name must be a prayer.
Saying your name colors my mouth,
frees loose this river, changes my skin,
turns my spine to string.
I pray all the time now.
Amen.
Try not to touch me while I tell this.
Try not to brush the thick tips of your fingers
against my throat while my throat moves,
telling this story.
Don't suddenly squeeze my bare shoulders
or travel your mouth along the flat swell of my belly.
Whatever you do don't bite at the hollow in my back, whisper
touch on my ankles or match our skin like spoons.
Don't punctuate this rambling sentence with your tongue
or trace your name on the backs of my legs.
Please don't walk the question of your breath along my thighs
or draw a map on my quivering breastbone guiding me to you,
me to you, me to you.
Do not play me that way.
Don't play me that way, the way the sax man
plays his lady, blowing into her mouth
until she cries, allowing her no breath of her own.
Don't play that way, baby, the way the sax man plays his lady.
That's strangling soft murder.
Notes like bullets, riffs like knives,
and the downbeat slapping into her.
And she sighs.
Into her and she cries.
Into her as she whines like the night turning.
Just sitting here on the bar stool,
sipping something bitter.
Let me cross my legs slow like the colored girls do.
Or let me feel your eyes go there.
Let me feed on glory and grow fat.
Meanwhile, lover, let's fill this wicked church with music.
Let me lean to the song for once without your mouth on me,
the music lit match into my skin.
And I dance, all legs and thunderous, in heels too high.
I dance, cheap perfume and black nail polish.
Sharkskin congregation.
Heads pressed.
Attitudes too tight.
Won't scream until it gets to be too much.
Won't beg for mercy until I wreck the landscape
with my hips.
Barstools filling.
Everybody everybody's waiting for the glory
to move through me, rock me with hosanna.
Shake me with hallelujahs is to break these bored bones.
They wait for you, supreme love, to pull me out
onto the dance floor.
Whisper come-ons in my ear.
Make me kick my heels above my nappy head,
high heels above my nappy head.
While they wait, I will dance with the sax man.
I will shimmer as he presses my keys.
Him and me bopping with our wicked church.
So do not play.
Do not play.
Did you hear me say, you do not play me that way?
The way I pray to be played.
Mama say the Lord enters you in stages.
Play me that way.
First, like a lit match under my skin.
Play me that way.
Then like an animal bites through bone with soft teeth.
Play me.
Mama say, lie still and wait for glory. that way.
To consume me.
That way.
To consume me.
That way.
Work my keys.
That way.
Work my keys.
That way.
Press that key.
Wait a minute.
Come around here and press that key again.
That felt pretty good.
Don't pay me no mind though, lover.
I always shudder when I pray.
[APPLAUSE]