for the Webster University Jazz Quintet
A tripod of piano, bass and drums
was spread across the stage
weaving chords and counts
into finest sonic cloth.
trumpet and tenor intersticed between,
dazzled the sound-scape
with vision and calculated risk.
Solos poured out like fountains
with swaying, clapping and bobbing heads;
Eyes closed to let the light of imagination in.
With colors as sharp and vibrant
as the cut glass windows behind them,
they painted memories of Miles
back-lit by Solar flares
and took a pleasant hike
in the Footprints of Shorter
to the jazz realm's distant borders.
Having journeyed so many Miles,
we paid them sincerest thanks,
steered our engines homeward
then slept – tapping our toes in our dreams.
April, 2007
Robert Charles Howard
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/miles-to-go/
