Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy
tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go husha-
husha-hush with the slippery sand-paper.
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome treetops,
moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a
racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop, bang-bang!
you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns,
tin cans — make two people fight on the top of a stairway
and scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down
the stairs.
Can the rough stuff . . . now a Mississippi steamboat pushes
up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo . . . and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars . . . a red moon rides
on the humps of the low river hills . . . go to it, O jazzmen.
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Comments
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trying to understand it still.......
From guest neddy v. (contact)
wow i'm a sophmore in honors english and i picked this poem out not just because it was easy... but i dont really know why it just really stood out 2 me ...bt it's a really cool poem ...and i'm a band geek so i can understand it a little bit i play 4 instruments so yea..over all its a really good poem... -
awesome
From guest Ginger (contact)
omg this is the easiest poem to do a report on every one reading pick this poem it has a lot of alliteration and onomatopoeia.TRUST ME!!!!!!!!!! -
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great!!!
From guest Regan (contact)
I like the way descride the jazz he is a great poet in my perspective!!! yea Carl!!! -
Jazz Fantasia
From guest Darrie B. (contact)
Wonderful... Powerful... I love it. It's so vivid and soulful. You feel like your there listening to the heartfelt and soulful jazz music. Great & Awesome -
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
From guest Sunny (contact)
this poem is so good i'm doing it for my poetry night at school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 -
first Jazz poem
From guest Levi (contact)
I really think this is my favorite poem, this poem represents the many aspects of jazz music, like when it says, Bang altogether drums, traps, Banjoes Horns, and tin cans...and then when it says can the rough stuff, it shows that jazz can be very unpredictable, it creats colors in the mind when you listen to it or play it, its kind of like...flying in different worlds and this poem shows both very broad ends of the spectrum -
YAYYY
From guest Lydia (contact)
I had the chance to pick from a number of modern poems and incidentally I chose this one. At first, I only liked it because of the onomatopoeia but now I just enjoy the poem overall. -
omg hate poetry
From guest lol (contact)
what sound effects are here in the poem? Omg I give up in poetry and if it want for Romanticism, there would be no poetry... dang... -
Many techniques
From guest Daisy (contact)
Good musical devices and lots of imagery, and a lot of figurative language!I think this is Narrative Poetry. It's tellin a story about a jazzman and the speaker is tellin him what to do. I think that's what it is about I might be wrong. -
Umm?
From guest Sammie (contact)
I really dont't get this poem..haha...In my sophmore english class we are doing poetry and I love petry but this pem has me confused...I don't know what the poet is trying to potray. -
point
From guest sylvia (contact)
i like this poem but i dont really understand the point or anything -
From guest sexyem (contact)
its amazing. it combines my love for jazz with my love for poetry. I especially liek the juxtaposition of the soothing sounds to the harsh strong ones. my favourite line is props "make two people fight on the top of a stairway and scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down the stairs." its just...beautiful. overall this poem just turns me on -
heyy!!
From guest kiana (contact)
i luv this poem so much!!! it is one of my fav's!! im excited to use it in a poetry book i am making of my fav poems!! -
coral reading
From guest sarah (contact)
we did this at our school on tuesday 15th may 2007 at allhallows school and 8s won -
OH YEAH
From guest Yur mom (contact)
it is VERY VERY VERY interesting i LOVE this poem soooo much. i love how he usues onomotopia to describe the actions of everything. -
hmm yes
From guest Kevin Corbette (contact)
i agree completely with you. this is a great poem and very different than all the others -
Interesting
Very unorthidox, but still interesting. It shocked me when I first read it.. It's just so very different. But most Jazz Lovers would bow to this tribute of the great genre.
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