From the verses of Shakespeare to the violence of Football, a soft hand on the nape of my neck to a rim's hard rattle after a dunk, the mute of Miles to the rhymes of Rakim, Hershey's chocolate to a garlic peppered, cedar-planked salmon, Joel Dias-Porter's thoughts scatter like grains of black sand across a wind-blown beach.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Bopping in the Key of Me
The piece i wrote for Sekou was my first Bop ever, and it didn't turn out half bad. I enjoyed discovering the form from the inside and think I want to write eleven more, and call them a 'circle of Bops.' One of the key lines to a Bop is the repeating refrain which comes from a song. If anone out there has any lines from lyrics to suggest, I'm open. Van Jordan was here this weekend to read and he said he thinks picking the right song line is the key to writing a successful Bop and I agree. Since the line repeats after every section, it has to be open-ended enough to allow the poem some room to develop. I'll start by harvesting eleven lines and then work from there. Right now I'm thinking about this line from Sara Smile "If you want to be free, you know you can go, all you have to do, is say so" And this one from EWF's 'I Write a Song' "Sounds never dissipate, they only recreate in another place." or Ann Peebles "I can't stand the rain, against my window" or Tavares "Please remember what I told you to forget." or Elton John's "I guess that's why they call it the Blues."
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1 comment:
Well done my brotha, well done indeed! Hit me man...it's alan! alanyoungjazz@yahoo.com
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