Thursday 9 March 2017

Freeform


Let’s break it down and hear what happens...
Rhythm, to start: a five-four beat,
played by a drummer with three left feet.

The sax joins in; hints at a tune
halfway between a wolf and the moon.
Then bass, piano, guitar: each opens

up a soundscape of seasickness.
The audience appreciate
a brave new rhythm: thirteen-eight.

Above the waves of flat-sharp notes
a piano solo barely floats,
before sinking beneath the darkness

from whence a tune tries to escape,
slapped back down by a drowning bass.
It gasps for breath then is no more

as broken fingers meet guitar:
solo from a machine workshop.
Drums now: start/stop/start/stop-stop/start/stop.

The sax brings everybody back
to somewhere near the point they started.
The full ensemble plays together

in glorious disharmony;
crash lands from thirty-thousand feet.
Silence, of sorts. Knowing applause.

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