by Daniel Davis Clayton

Jazz is the kink in my grandmother's hair
I brush
        I brush
    I brush          and that Jazz is still there
Jazz is her high yella golden saxophone song
          not quite as dark as the Blues
                      long since gone
Dancing
        Dancing
   Dancing
When we walk she hears a tune unknown to me
                          Perhaps I am just too young to hear it
          She leads me in our Jazz dance
          After three rounds we rest
Jazz is her soft skin
        its notes written in the wrinkles
When I kiss Jazz's forehead into tight configuration
Have you ever woke Jazz up in the morning with sunlight and fresh air
Bathed the Jazz          Clothed the Jazz
Kissed Jazz on the cheek with your masculine lips
Walked with Jazz          Talked with Jazz
Let Jazz lead you in its own dance to a tune you couldn't even fathom
I even washed Jazz's dirty draws

   That's          that's          that's
Loving the Jazz        Loving the Jazz        Loving the Jazz
Hugging the Jazz        Hugging the Jazz        Hugging the Jazz
Needing the Jazz        Needing the Jazz        Needing the Jazz
Feeding the Jazz        Feeding the Jazz        Feeding the Jazz
            oatmeal and bananas for breakfast
        Good morning sugah                you are my child now
You see
        blue black Blues gave birth with its yella Jazz gene pool
                (my grandfather's coon and my grandmother's womb)
I return to you when
          ever I'm weary
                    haven't you noticed that Jazz
I came home when I was weary
          couldn't you see the blues in me
                your Big Band did she even cooked me rice
You once said I favored the Blues that caught your eye
          with whom you harmonized nightly
                    Gave birth to two Swing Dancers
                                   and a Big Band being my mother
                              the second of three children
Three rounds then rest
                a tradition indeed
                    Jazz, Blues, Bands, then me.
                    We are a generational peoples
Some of the other musical forms
                Even the Swing Dancers
        have forgotten that without you...
          as if their own creations were immaculate
               Baby, everybody ain't got Jesus
                    everybody ain't got Jazz
                    and so they honor the Jazz in pass over
   passing over responsibilities
Birthdays and Christmas are great times to play the Jazz
dust off that wax and
                Spin
                   spin
                      spin        but those are scratches on our records
As your record
                skips and repeats
                          skips and repeats
                      skips and repeats
                You see, Jazz don't recognize the blues quite so often
          Nor Big Bands or the Swing Dancers which prance around the Jazz
As if Jazz owes them something
                Jazz is so cool it doesn't even know when it's being played
                                                  or should it
Now days Jazz comes in small increments
I pieced together it's partial songs
                                                and sometimes brush its hair
I cherish the Jazz          Put the Jazz to bed
Wake it up in the morning
Play it and play it and play it and play
                    until I knew the Jazz
Gave Big Bands short rests when I formulated my own song
          spending time learning the saxophone
                the bass in the Blues is long since gone
I guess I'll be the new bass of my own bit of blues
                I be          Hugging the Jazz          Loving the Jazz
Ensuring my nephews respected the Jazz
                    taking its fragrance on my masculine lips
I pass it along to your pregnant hips
                as I tell my incubant ovarian child within you
                this history of her music
                          Everything feminine is Jazz baby
                                             didn't you
                                     know that?
There's even Jazz
There's even Jazz
There's even Jazz          in me.