Trombone | Teen Ink

Trombone MAG

June 18, 2012
By PaigeStreet PLATINUM, Juneau, Alaska
PaigeStreet PLATINUM, Juneau, Alaska
47 articles 0 photos 218 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stay golden"
- Johnny (The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton)


In places like these the dust doesn't settle, it gets rolled up in zigzag papers
and filtered through the bodies of daytime state workers.
I come for the jazz not the coffee and all I leave with is poetry.
I tip but mostly conspicuously, I want to give them the feeling
and it's worth losing the money,
funny how you feel when it's sunny for the first day in a month of rain.

The trombone is narrating my grandparents' first date
fence hopping with wet socks through the sweat-dusted stockyard
after dark started lifting, but –
the drums cut him off in a prelude to a kiss,
missed the connection of lips around 6 a.m., just to trade fours with a Casio.
Oh, sweet jazz
You never quite say it.
A jazz solo is a bureaucrat
a diplomat
scat caught skirting around the issue
because if you just said what you meant,
what you wanted,
there'd be no magic in the
no romance in the
melody melody melody.
No, you have to make me believe you
just like any sob story worth a buck by a burning bush in a trash can
Where Lost Moses moans with the Hebrew hobos
Somewhere sort of like South Franklin.
Just like an election
Or a TV special,
or a long late-night email
with tall Mystery herself,
It's not the story,
it's all in how you tell it.


The author's comments:
For Tall Mystery

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This article has 8 comments.


on Feb. 2 2013 at 8:21 pm
PaigeStreet PLATINUM, Juneau, Alaska
47 articles 0 photos 218 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stay golden"
- Johnny (The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton)

Ahh :) And I am a music nerd. Nice to meet you.

on Feb. 2 2013 at 2:38 pm
TaylorWintry DIAMOND, Carrollton, Texas
72 articles 0 photos 860 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." - Unknown

Wonderful! I really liked this - the title drew me to this poem. I'm a band geek. (:

leafy said...
on Oct. 11 2012 at 8:51 am
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

Awesome! And sure, here's the link (just take out the spaces, since TI filters actual links :P): htt p://theeloquenceofleaves.tumblr.co m/

on Oct. 10 2012 at 5:44 pm
PaigeStreet PLATINUM, Juneau, Alaska
47 articles 0 photos 218 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stay golden"
- Johnny (The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it. And yes, the Trombone is a wonderfully expressive instrument :)

I would be honored if you posted some of my poetry to your tumblr. You could link to my TI profile, yes. Is there any chance I could get the URL of your tumblr so I could follow you?

leafy said...
on Oct. 1 2012 at 4:06 pm
leafy, City, Other
0 articles 0 photos 682 comments

Favorite Quote:
Gil: I would like you to read my novel and get your opinion. 
Ernest Hemingway: I hate it. 
Gil: You haven't even read it yet. 
Ernest Hemingway: If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, then I'll be envious and hate it even more. You don't want the opinion of another writer. 

This is amazing! Partially because you're an awesome writer, partially because I love jazz, and partially because, well, I am a bit impartial—I play trombone ^_^.

On a slightly different note, would you mind if I posted some of your poetry on my tumblr? I would credit you, of course (I'd most likely give a link to your TI profile, unless you'd prefer another site), if you're fine with that. Thanks! :)

on Aug. 12 2012 at 8:38 pm
PaigeStreet PLATINUM, Juneau, Alaska
47 articles 0 photos 218 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Stay golden"
- Johnny (The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton)

Thank you! I do recommend live Jazz for writing poetry, also, haha :)

on Aug. 12 2012 at 4:34 pm
Kiki_McGee GOLD, Woodstock, Illinois
16 articles 16 photos 72 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." - Emily Dickinson

Wow, this poem makes me wish I loved jazz music more than I do! I love how you incorporated your grandparents into it!

InkWriter13 said...
on Jun. 27 2012 at 2:47 pm
I love the analogy and all the references. You truly have a way with words. Kind of long lines sometimes but I respect your right as a writer to determine the length in a free verse poem. Great message, great poem. Vivid imagery, perfect comparisons. Great work, truly. 5 stars. Would you please comment on my work titled the Magic of Love and In the Library?