Kansas City Blues, 1934
Coleman (Bean) Hawkins Hung Up
Seeing is believing, but hearing is a bitch.
Lester "Prez" Young
in '34 america partied wet again
& you didn't have to hide your booze
not that pendergast's kay cee
ever tried life dry
the Cherry Blossom
was the hot new spot
its japanese motif flashed
red & white flowers
in the wallpaper & in the kimonos
of the fine brown geishas who served
& flirted for tips
bill basie from jersey swung the house band
& when fletcher henderson & his boys
hit town they all fell by
& coleman "bean" hawkins
founder & absoloute monarch
of the tenor sax
made the dauntless error
of sitting in
bean didn't know the kay cee tenors
so they lined up on his ass
herschel evans
hawkins' texas tenor progeny
deep voiced & blowing blue note thunderstorms
stretched him all the way out
& would not be cut
next came the mighty ben "frog" webster
a peer coleman didn't know he had
whose breathy chain of azure dreams
fell gracefully out of each other
on their way from the root to the new
& then
o shit what winging hell is this?
lester young
sax cocked at 45 degrees
the cool voice that fired the hottest sounds
tone light enough to ride
across the room on clouds of smoke
five choruses to warm up but then
& then & then & then a new indigo lyric
flowed over the joint
without floor or ceiling
mary lou williams' sleep
was broken by frog webster's tap on her window
"wake up pussycat
coleman hawkins is hungup at the Cherry Blossom
& all the piano players are sweated out"
& there she found great bean in his singlet
shirt neatly folded on the chair
searching his horn for a lick
that would win this all night chase
he never found it
the music
never closed in '34 kansas city
Jim Crow
so there never can be a question of where you walk
you must get the hell off the sidewalk
if a white person approaches
elevators put you much too close to us
go to the freight lift as that is what you are
at the bus & train stations you will be in the colored waiting room
even if it costs us twice as much to maintain one
use the colored window at the post office
& callon the colored public telephone so we won't have
nigger earwax rubbing on our ears & nigger breath
laid near our mouths
if you reach an intersection before a white person
wait for the white car to go through before proceeding
& never pass a white driver on the road you arrogant bastard
any accident with a white driver is your fault as you know
never speak first to a white person or contradict a white person
or be first to offer your hand to a white person
never speak to or look at a white woman unless you want to be chopped up
& barbecued
park in the colored parking space across the street
if we have to drag your thieving ass to court
swear on the colored bible as the testaments
& gospels don't mean the same for you & us
god will explain this when you die & your black soul
goes to whatever garbage dump nigger souls go to
___________________________
A.B. Spellman
Between the Night and Its Music:
New and Selected Poems
Wesleyan, 2024
