coltrane

invested in

the elements

spins a sun

and sets another

system swirling

on the pulse

of elvin jones’                                 

breakneck

metronome

to redefine

rhythm

and therefore

space/time

these are

a few

of my

favorite things

sings a

soprano sax

so unlikely

only inevitable

like a cardinal                                                                     

on green grass

it appears

to wrap minds

around

new vines

scaling manhattan

canyons

trane laid

down sets

with monk

at the five spot

said rehearsals

were just learning

from sphere

eight hours

at a pop        

how to stop

a blue train              

can't be done

bends into night

sounds

lonesome blue

midnight blue

blue Egypt

blue ascension

blue the color

of the robin's egg

In carolina hills

blue beam

of starlight

on the

nightingale's beak

blue stones roll

as tumbling notes

across the

staff paper

blue

the color of

astrological charts

strung across

the beams

of night

blue reason

to play

until the hour

of 5 am

harlem

sunrise

won't the

midnight special    

shine a light

on me            

leadbelly

memorandum

laid the table

for stone

cold blues

trane could

reform

in the

steam engine

of harmonic

extension

medieval modes

put into

brass improvisations

call it africa/brass

call it the spirit

made me do it

ballads whispered                         

from duke ellington's

piano

were information

in a glazed glass

tangerine sundown

the tenor

in the hands

invocation

of the very stars

of the coming night

all was written                    

in your name

already

coal the element

to generate

steam                        

trane the engine

crossing the continent

in ascents

and

whistle-round-the-bends

so much

trouble seen

refined down

to copper penny

arpeggios

trane baroque

tapped

onto broadway

melodies

so much

trouble seen

must glean

some daybreak

into the

coldwater flat

while the

steam

of trane’s

inventions

floats up

the fire

escape dawn

It's time

to craft

a monument

alright trane

will do it

in sonic sculpture

and know

the rushmore

of this night

this song

is in

the ascension

up

Dan Hanrahan