It has been my extreme pleasure to collaborate with (and enthusiastically support) Winchester’s Petter Bullough Foundation. More about their history and mission here, and some previous programming we’ve done together, featuring the amazing L. Renée here.
We were blessed with the rare, perfect autumn evening where we went from golden glow to slight chill as the last rays of light departed the horizon, filled with colors and dive-bombing birds. We assembled in the garden and, once everyone had armed themselves with wine and appetizers, I read from my second collection of poetry Rhapsodies in Blue as well as a few from the forthcoming Kinds of Blue (both from the excellent Kelsay Books). We recorded the festivities, which you can enjoy, below.
A few words about these poems.
RHAPSODIES IN BLUE is the second installment of a large and ongoing project that explores America (its mythology, its possibility) through a series of poems that function as biography, history, and cultural commentary. Continuing where THE BLACKENED BLUES left off, this collection honors a variety of artistic icons, some well-known, others unjustly obscure, and seeks to capture something essential about their lives, bearing witness while paying homage.
America has always been a cauldron of inconsistencies; so often in our history we’ve ended up with brilliance, tolerance, and progress only after every other option has been exhausted. It seems instructive—and inspiring—to consider that, to take only one from many other examples, this country, which beats and stymies its best citizens, is capable of producing the geniuses who invented and perfected jazz and blues music. Despite every systemic disadvantage and all the obstacles placed in their paths, these musicians lived, played, persevered, and became immortal. Any country that can claim Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, and Howlin’ Wolf is worth preserving, and celebrating.
