About as close as I get to playing jazz

Where I grew up, jazz was a rumor, a footnote in our schools' history books. Nobody I knew actually listened to it. Or talked about it. Jazz was as abstract an idea to me as the exotic, far-away locales I associated with the art - Harlem and New Orleans.

The earliest years of adulthood found me in Nashville, where, contrary to the assumptions both then and now, much more than country music is played. Here I found jazz clubs, radio stations playing the music, college courses with musicians teaching the history. Ahh, so much education!

I never ventured to play anything, but the spirit of the music speaks to me and I connect through writing. Because of this truth, I am grateful to have discovered Jerry Jazz Musician, created and edited by Joe Maita. If you're into jazz - its sounds, art and history - you'll love the site. JJM publishes various types of writing, too, and I'm honored to have two poems recently included:

Lamentation in Minor Blues

Piano Lessons, as part of a poetry collection for April 2019