William Matthews on Mingus

From: "Time & Money: New Poems" (1995),
this poem about jazz composer Charles Mingus:


You have to pick up The Bass, as
        Mingus called
his, with audible capitals, and
        think of the slow years
the wood spent as a tree, which
        might well have been
enough for wood, and think of the
        skill the bassmaker
carried without great thought of it
        from home
to the shop and back for decades,
        and know
what bassists before you have
        played, and know
how much of this is stored in The
        Bass like energy
in a spring and know how much
        you must coax out.
How easy it would be, instead, to
        pull a sword
from a stone.  But what's inside the
        bass wants out.        


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Last modified: Wednesday, 18-Jul-2007 16:27:26 EDT