Dark Magus Miles Ahead #7

(Remembering Miles Davis after a painting by Roy Lagrone

Previously published in ESSENCE Magazine)

Through the glowing-bronze reeds of Harlem midnight
and the plum-rose bloom of Spanish twilight
African-griot-magus waters the garden
of his neon spirals deep in the valley
of my jazz-consoled hunger and madness.

70 x 7,000 miles we travel the naked truth
of hidden beginnings and guessed-at endings,
African-griot-magus inhaling demons more easily
than I exhale peace of mind or clarity of soul.
African-griot-magus balancing divinity like tornadoes
humming on the tips of three angels’ tongues.

Lost inside my third mind I build a planet ruled by honeysuckle,
violets, and the shadows of voices bubbling soft joy.
With my seventh mind I hammer a chain of wonders
that hold African-griot-magus to all of his promises.
With my ninth mind I resurrect my first
and dance slow to the music of my soul made new.

80 x 8,000 years we sing the naked story
of blue-boned Harlem midnight and plum-rose Spanish twilight.
African-griot-magus horn blowing waves of dotted light
that rise in the east and wander blind through the west.
African-griot-magus, face that is my face, unafraid of destruction,
wailing like Joshua illuminated pages for a new creation.