carnegie hall, 29 november 1957

Monk’s dissonant da-da-da-DAH
V.-signs punctuate the intricate
invisible architecture
he and Coltrane are creating
on stage at Carnegie Hall,
audience amazement as palpable
as a third musician emerging
where piano-sax interplay intercepts
unmet expectations’ exact opposite,
Colrane’s sax spun honey pure,
spectrum slider, megahertz masseur,
Monk tickling the noodle,
here come drums, bass,
we’re swinging now.

Fuck you America, Ginsberg will say it,
it’s 1957, I’m 5 and feeling it but don’t know it yet, Monk’s tone clusters clash,
dark triplets, sixteenths, demisemiquavers,
machinegun riffs, the few veterans in the audience
start at each snaredrum rimshot.

We all live in the shadow now.

Already, evil old Ike, who knew,
cooking up another nightmare for the kids – us –
way down yonder in Vietnam.

But we don’t know that tonight,
in Carnegie Hall, November 29, 1957,
where the music is jazzy, bittersweet,
and life is good.


[Freedom by DAM; please click image to see a larger version]