POEM: My Name Is Jaime Escalante

Posted 31 March, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

I wrote this poem today for Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who was made famous in the movie “Stand and Deliver.” He died March 30, 2010, at the age of 79.

Photo: George Rose/ Getty Images

My Name Is Jaime Escalante

I sing the body mathematical;
my children calculate
the warp and woof
of the universe.

They strain at their limits,
breaking through the
expectations of parentage,
economy, geography.

In an infinite series of small
achievements, the next generation
ascends to the summit,
surveys el barrio.

No fence can restrain them,
no cracked concrete
prevent their flowering.
They are transcendent,

a series of small stones
bridging the chasm
between now and
what could be.

Just another man from East L.A.,
a son of Bolivia and father
to the children of the function,
the integral, the derivative.

What equation can measure this sum?
What sign can equal these lives?
I sing the body mathematical.
My children calculate the answer.

POEM: toujours l’ouverture

Posted 31 March, 2010 in Audio Poems, Jazz, Music, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem is the sixth in a series of pieces inspired by bass clarinetist Thomas Savy’s new CD, French Suite (Plus Loin Music, 2009). This particular poem came from his composition “Ouverture.” You can learn more about Thomas Savy at his MySpace page. I’ll be posting more poems in this series in the coming days. You can also read and listen to the first, second, third, fourth and fifth poems in this series.

toujours l’ouverture

cymbal crown church bell
assembles the faithful
center: two dancers
basso profundo
et Fili et Spriritus Sancti
screech strike rumble
circle ’round the cobblestones
white scarf around the waist
falls to the street as he spins
lightly, lightly now
dip and circle, bob and weave
“trouve moi la mélodie, mon amour”
one then another then another
until the street is clear
and the breeze carries the scarf away

POEM: Proof

Posted 30 March, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

Ego ingredior proinde ego sum.

Proof

these are my footsteps
thudding on the pavement
so I must be here

otherwise

I wouldn’t have believed it

POEM: worship

Posted 29 March, 2010 in Audio Poems, Jazz, Music, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem is the fifth in a series of pieces inspired by bass clarinetist Thomas Savy’s new CD, French Suite (Plus Loin Music, 2009). This particular poem came from his performance of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday.” You can learn more about Thomas Savy at his MySpace page. I’ll be posting more poems in this series in the coming days. You can also read and listen to the first, second, third and fourth poems in this series.

worship

come, Sunday
and make of us
believers
through the power
of your melody
and the glory
of the chord

POEM: Stephen Edward

Posted 26 March, 2010 in Audio Poems, Jazz, Music, My poems, Poetry

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem is the fourth in a series of pieces inspired by bass clarinetist Thomas Savy’s new CD, French Suite (Plus Loin Music, 2009). This particular poem came from his composition “Ballade de Stephen Edward.” You can learn more about Thomas Savy at his MySpace page. I’ll be posting more poems in this series in the coming days. You can also read and listen to the first, second and third poems in this series.

Stephen Edward

writes his cramped
letters in a worn
notebook, sitting
everyday at the
same table, making
his single glass last
sometimes he leans
back, letting the sun
hit him full in the face
at other times he’s
hunched and indrawn
the world shut out
his thoughts swirling
he’s filing reports
for a nonexistent
newspaper, one whose
readers all live in the
same house, between
two ears and exposed
to the rain under
Stephen’s sparse hair
whoosh

A poem a day in April for NaPoWriMo

Posted 25 March, 2010 in Poetry

I’ve committed to writing a poem per day in April as part of NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). Watch this space for the poems, and why not try it yourself? You can click on the image above for details or visit readwritepoem.org.

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