​the sound i saw, 1960, Roy DeCarava, by Ian D Smith

​the sound i saw, 1960, Roy DeCarava

A Double Golden Shovel
beginning and end words by Sonya Sanchez
 
Of expensive overcoats, of shoe shine tonite,
things blow cold. Ella sings blues and Dizzy cuts in
to groove the room. Silver microphones feel the need.
Come on now, all you cool cats on the street, sons of--
From Harlem to Carnegie Hall, I will guide you.
Many rain-soaked sidewalks, trash can wars, shouts-outs and
beginnings later, a song plays and ends with God
nourishing the reed, blessing the stage; I and I.
The sidewalk drags on. Sweeps and man-high railings move,
soil-sweet faces stare from windows, not imperfect,
forged in factories making new people. Through
genius, jazz is crowned; the expression is this:
to walk past mean metalwork and to think ancient,
take large hands to a great coat and pull the city
root round you. Ash piles up, cold cries out, pleads for quiet
and respect. All the time jazz resists. It shouts no!
harbours wild ideas, masters the reed, frees one,
the one you want to, the one everyone hears --
expectant screams long held inside. Blow sax or no
wings open, no birds are liberated, not one.
Of course, what’s not usual is the way it feels:
nascent gatherings, public meetings. Now sound the 
trumpets, beat drums; jazz comes through salt water and tears
until it rises off the gutter, lifts off of
the street. Now you feel soft power of multitudes,
bold moves, ambitious skies, dreams of jazz. To play the
soaring crescendo, shout out against the silence.
Few see the new wave before it towers, thickens,
breaks on them — so be free, hold hands, sing I and I
through the streets; to stride with confident feet, to have,
exploring this old city, to gain, to find lost
solitary voyages, to oceans, to the 
islands between continents, to the new found shore.

Ian D Smith

Ian D Smith:  "I'm from Manchester in the UK, but now living in Wiltshire. I’m a state-educated poet and traditionally under-represented in UK publishing. Despite that poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Icefloe Press, Stand, Eratio and others."