Skip to content →

POEM: the bass clarinet

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem is the first 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 listening to his performance of John Coltrane’s “Lonnie’s Lament.” You can learn more about Thomas Savy at his MySpace page. I’ll be posting more poems in this series in the coming days.

the bass clarinet

reaches down, scoops
out your intestines
causes your brow
to furrow, your eyes
to narrow then shut

lamentation, an old
fashioned word
from before these sounds
existed, before this
Frenchman was born

John William burned
his lament onto the wax
as he had inscribed it
onto the paper
black ink to red fire

Published in Audio Poems Jazz Music My poems Poetry

5 Comments

  1. […] be posting more poems in this series in the coming days. You can also read and listen to the first and second poems in this […]

  2. […] 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 […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.