The Odd Story of Stephane and Irina ( who never met )
Posted: January 10th, 2011, 7:36 am
Grappelli ducked out
the beat up blue metal door
that dumped into the alley
stepped up into an old Dodge van
bumper sticker read, I DIG JAZZ
with a small red heart
a fan called out, Stephane
What is Jazz, Man ?
his reply just a knowing smile
as if to say there are no words,
and well, analyzing jazz
is like analyzing poetry, should not
be done toooooo stridently
but with lambskin gloves
a critique shouldn't be the same
as dissecting a frog in science lab,
I mean, poetry really matters
a whole lot to the people
that took the time to write it
now take Irina
sentenced to nearly four years
in prison she was given
a pencil and a piece of paper
once a month to write a letter
to her family, all other writing
was strictly forbidden, yet Irina
managed to write two hundred
poems during her sentence,
she engraved them with a burnt
match into a bar of soap
once the words were committed
to memory, she would
wash her hands of them
the beat up blue metal door
that dumped into the alley
stepped up into an old Dodge van
bumper sticker read, I DIG JAZZ
with a small red heart
a fan called out, Stephane
What is Jazz, Man ?
his reply just a knowing smile
as if to say there are no words,
and well, analyzing jazz
is like analyzing poetry, should not
be done toooooo stridently
but with lambskin gloves
a critique shouldn't be the same
as dissecting a frog in science lab,
I mean, poetry really matters
a whole lot to the people
that took the time to write it
now take Irina
sentenced to nearly four years
in prison she was given
a pencil and a piece of paper
once a month to write a letter
to her family, all other writing
was strictly forbidden, yet Irina
managed to write two hundred
poems during her sentence,
she engraved them with a burnt
match into a bar of soap
once the words were committed
to memory, she would
wash her hands of them
