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Sax by Tom Romero
"SAX" copyright 2006 by TOM ROMERO

Spinning Jazz Tales

A poem by Geraldine Green

I lie this way I sweat
I lie that way I see stars
I lie on back my hand outside the tent
I lie on my face eating soil
Who put the stars there?
Who put the soil there?
Who put the light of god there?
Who put the horse of the universe there?
I lie on my stomach I lie on my side
I lie facing marble walls
I lie facing the sky
I lie stitching time between my seven crooked toes
I lie and turn myself into mud
I lie with frogs leaping over me
I lie listening to my heart
I lie and let my hair fall away from my head
I lie in the halls of mercury
I sleep on the floor of the sea
I am bedrock looking glass beat rock jazz
I inhabit the top c
I am the spit that trembles on the mouthpiece of a saxophone
I am the ringing in your ears you hear
Each time the clarinet moans and shivers into its
Top c
I am the crisp pound note
I am the mote of glass
I am the moat around your castle
I am the swimming sensation I feel when I lie looking at stars
From inside the tent I have stitched
By hands
From a lace handkerchief
I am the black mamba snake hissing
In your brain
I am the clean breath you gave me when you went away
I am the sweat that breaks the moisture of every person who has ever listened to spun jazz.

Copyright 2006 by Geraldine Green

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Geraldine GreenGeraldine writes:
"Spinning Jazz Tales" began because I was hot and couldn't sleep, so I got up and wrote the poem, jotting down what I'd been doing: 'I lie this way I sweat/I lie that way, I see stars.' Again, I went with whatever free associative images came to mind, shaping the poem later. I'm very keen in the musicality of poetry, this makes me aware of the sounds that come to me as I write.

Geraldine Green is from Cumbria, UK, with Irish roots. Her first collection, The Skin, was published in 2002 by Flarestack. She graduated in 2005 with an MA (Distinction) in Creative Writing, Lancaster University. Green runs writing workshops and is a tutor for Continuing Education, Lancaster University. Her second collection, Passio, was published in April 2006 (by Flarestack); she's currently working on her third collection. Her work has been published in the UK, Italy, and America. Geraldine's poetry has appeared in Obsessed with Pipework, Rain Dog, Neon Highway, Smoke, Citizen 32, Envoi, as well as US online magazines Out of Order, Poetry Bay, and Mountain Voices. She is an Associate Editor of Poetry Bay (Editor, George Wallace). Geraldine can be reached via email at: Geraldinegreen1@aol.com.

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