This Apostle’s Creed: East Broadway Run Down
Sean MurphyFall '83 and, as if weekly church services weren't insufferable enough, the Sacrament of Confirmation required mandatory tutelage, also once a week, on Sundays, which meant our soccer games (and…
National Poetry Month Meets American Culture
Huge love & thanks to the awesome team at Washington Writers' Publishing House for featuring my poem "DuBose Heyward's Blues," which was drafted with the working title "Rhapsodies in Blue"…
National Poetry Month Meets Bud Powell (and more metaphor)
Another wonderful Facebook memory prompts me to recall how incredibly productive things were, this time seven years ago, albeit not in the ways I'd intended. To recap, I headed up…
National Poetry Month Meets Bukowski & Metaphor
This pic popped up in my Facebook memories today. Reminding me not only of the great Martha's Vineyard Adventure in 2016, via the Noepe Center for Literary Arts (RIP), but…
100 + 1: National Poetry Month Meets Mingus
Charles Mingus had many things to say, and he used his mouth, his pen, his fists, and mostly his music to say them. Of the myriad words that describe Mingus, passionate would…
Easter Sunday and Eric Dolphy
Eric Dolphy’s Avowal* Eric Dolphy’s alto is less a solo than an announcement: not unlike a boisterous child acting out in the rear pew, where everyone gradually comprehends, he is…
National Poetry Month Meets Marvin Gaye
I was aware (and in awe) of John Goodman before I reviewed his book (10 years ago!) Mingus Speaks -- an indispensable document of the great Charles Mingus (a lot…
National Poetry Month Meets Howlin’ Wolf
National Poetry Month rolls on. Thanks again to Decolonial Passage for publishing "Howlin' Wolf's Harp" last summer. This one appears in Rhapsodies in Blue (and I read it last week…
Why Wayne Shorter Matters
Wayne Shorter is, for my money, possibly the most underrated genius in any genre of music. To be sure, he certainly received plenty of props within jazz circles and the people…
Original Poem: Pharoah Sanders Donating Blood to Buy Food, 1962
A young Sanders with his mentor and bandmate John Coltrane Huge gratitude to the team at Decolonial Passage for including my work in their "Food, Power, and Powerlessness" issue. (It's…