JAZZ AFICIONADO (For Yemi Sax)

The gasp of music is the elevating stretch

She works on the minds open to her reach.

Jazz lifts the being from sand

Sweeps him upward

To balcony apex of a skyscraper rind.

By inversion, swift medley

Of augmented ninth and diminished thirteenth

Burst out sublime, easily!

At once I perceive before me

Colourful shoals at the Great Barrier Reef.

This cadence is born of maven fingers

This juncture yields to flawless finger chops across piano octaves.

A visage of delight are you, adrift in your saxophonic ambience am I,

Imbued with awe as I lean, primal, on an arm-rest.

Play on; play me Armstrong hued in blue!

Play me mind-bath at Harlem --

One umbilical cord, our roots

Of suture birthed prior the pouring out of notes

From the soul’s delicate sanctuary,

Play me supple Kenny G

Extending till a spasmodic counterpoint,

For the ensemble to unleash the coda.

No doubt, your notes make me your perfect aficionado.