Golda Solomon – My Mother Figure is Jazz

Golda Solomon

my mother figure is jazz

anna zack gave me life    independence firecrackers
announce my arrival    round midnight feedings
from infant to woman   the blues hummed loud

‘til teats of notes  chord changes/ jazz woke by
a legend with three horns a plenty in his mouth
blind and yet all seeing   he  knew my laugh

club smells of  stale tobacco  sweet sweat and
maryjane   riffs that jelly rolled up and down keys
my hungry mouth found you Monk my jazz mother

last flourish of arpeggio on the keyboard   tipped hat
cash register opened   paid by the termini brothers
three a.m. walks  streets empty  don’t step on the cracks

ratner’s open  welcomes this miss ann and supermen
of all instruments   i learn the vocabulary of black
rage   survival   resistance   this genre of genius

hail mary taxis  take them home  to brooklyn/ harlem
farts from trucks beginning early morning runs
dawn breaking   sleep  like a baby  ready   set    go

weaned on scotch and milk    chicken ‘n waffles
soul sax at wells    saint .nicks pub    showmans on 125th
classic sounds reside/bent anew by my extended family

bach toccatas wafting thru sir roland’s fingers
betty carter sings me the ways of  holding on tight
don’t let go    the ways of men and love

blue coronet    the needle’s eye    the half note
finger snappin’   thigh slappin ‘ ear poppin’ five spot
nina’s mississippi goddamn  my history lessons

down the stairs of the vanguard  seventh ave.south of
my dissonant childhood.  those nights i dream al jolson
gershwin and smell my daddy’s nicotine scent