LAZULI LITERARY GROUP
  • ABOUT
    • Our Literary Aesthetic
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
    • SUBSCRIBE
  • LIBRARY SHOP
  • AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 3 >
      • MENAGE A TROIS, WITH HORSE by Don Dussault
      • THE BLACK by Ben Colandrea
      • BLUE SKY LANGUAGE by Christien Gholson
      • UN DETECTIVE VIEJO by Franco Strong
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 2 >
      • THE CLEANSING by Linda Dennard
      • SHUFFLE by Debbie Fox
      • DID YOU FALL OR RISE FROM THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING? by M. Ann Reed
      • THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE PORNQUEEN by Omar Sabbagh
      • KIGALI MEMORIAL by Carlos Andres Gomez
      • PANTOUM OF THE MEAT by Ouita Rogers
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 1 >
      • HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY by Joanne B. Mulcahy
      • PROTOCOL NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE by Kenneth Hanes
      • LESS' MORE by TWIXT
      • POINTLESS MR. PROBST by Beatriz Seelaender
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2 >
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 4 >
        • SYLVAN PASSAGES by Dan Wood
        • SISTER ALONE by Janet M Powers
        • CENTURY 2.1 by Alan Flurry
        • CLAIMED BY THE SEA by Sam Reese
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 3 >
        • CROSSHATCHING by M.K. Rainey
        • LULLABY by Barbara Daddino
        • HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) by Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
        • THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS by V.B. Borjen
        • SYZYGY (and other poems) by Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 2 >
        • DRAGONFLIES: A DISCOURSE ON ANXIETY by Lara Lillibridge
        • AND RICHARD BURBAGE ALSO HAD A SISTER by Freya Shipley
        • THE WATCHERS by M.K. Rainey
        • JAZZ INTERACTION WITH SYMBOLS by Sarah T.
        • SPIDER (and other poems) by Natalie Crick
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 1 >
        • ECHOES by Daniel Freeman
        • MAPS by Susan Brennan
        • EDGAR'S FATHER'S MAGIC WORDS by JWM Morgan
        • LOCKJAW: IN TWO ACTS by James Blevins
        • WHAT THE LIVING DO by Susan Wadds
    • Archives: Volume 1 >
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 10 >
        • SUSURROS DE RECURRENCIA by Franco Strong
        • THE OLD MAN by Sarah T.
        • PERMUTATIONS by Laura Cesarco Eglin
        • WORLD PEACE 3 by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 9 >
        • LITTLE GHOST by Danny Judge
        • THE LAST ALLUSIONIST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • CHURCH by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 8 >
        • DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Nancy Flynn
        • WHAT I COULDN'T SAY by Erika Ranee & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 7 >
        • BRASS TYRANT AND THE AMERICAN THIRST by Kirk Marshall
        • LADY KILLER by Monika Viola
        • THE RIBBONS by Ferguson Williams
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 6 >
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT 2 - Part 1) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • NEW AGE UNCAGED by Frank Light
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 5 >
        • THE TRIALS OF TOBIT by Joseph Lisowski
        • LIKE MANY GIANT FOOTPRINTS (and other poems) by William Doreski
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT I) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 4 >
        • WARDENCLIFF by Barbara Daddino
        • BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY by Reg Darling
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (LIBRETTO) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 3 >
        • LAWTON, OKLAHOMA by Mark Lawley
        • TWEETY BIRD'S GRACE by Diana McClure
        • CONTAGION AND THE DINNER GUEST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • ON POETRY AND PROSE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 2 >
        • LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Alex Mosiak
        • TWO MICE IN A BLACK BOX & THE DECONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 1 >
        • CHARACTER SKETCHES by Diana McClure
        • SEASONS ON A GRAVESTONE by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • COCKTAIL PARTY by Diana McClure
        • DESUETUDE by Sakina B. Fakhri
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTESTS
  • BLOG
Back to AZURE (Spring 2017)

Jazz Interaction With Symbols

By Sarah T.
Picture

Jazz Interaction With Symbols
Four different-purposed birds
Six-and-one divergent churches
All set in circles and steeples.
 
Serpents slither into the innocent
notions and oceans of ideas
horizon lines ships and wishes
irate lies smiling from behind pretty eyes.
 
Town criers never know the joke or
the jokester at the crossroads
‘though griots[i] go along
and understand the meaning
of the jokester’s song.
 
Holy women handle azaleas,
Holy men buzzard lope
minuet and swing
age-old coquettes
church folk
holding honeysuckle
bedbugs,
buzzards,
and the hum of earthbound angels in their hands.
 
The stories that we tell ourselves
of ourselves, 
in symbols: 
 
the shape of an old man’s face
a storm from outer space
the cackling curmudgeon
with top hat and crutches
black shades
fingertips
a shaky grip 
on his cane
(he is lame)
feigning innocence
with his limp
and swinging a
simple
stealthy
symbol-ridden staff.
 
The pains of birth carved into
the world’s girth/
archetypes
antidotes
omens:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
overseers of Edens
investing sudden seeds of themselves
in granite and gold
and gloves
bringing their underlings
and the scent of smoldering skin
upon the wind.
 
A dove:
 
The blood has blown over.
Blessings have begun.
Self-less spring winds
whistle and sing
in blessed
bone
redemption.
 
Exemption
Absolution
Baptism:
 
symbolism
of sudden acceptance/
Quite-right rite of passage
into pastures having
staffs
shepherds
and sheep
(salvation)
sleep
green fields
peace like a river.
 
Cakes
made by Mabel
who baked them:
 
sunshine!
gleaming with sweetness and bees
“Our Fathers” uttered on unending knees.
 
Trees
Bees
Butterflies
Children’s cries
Cane stalks
Hawks and                                                                                                                 
Gentlemen callers
singing songs in symbols
exalting exaltations and praises
naming archetype names and
identifying archetypal allies:
 
Brown eyes
Valleys
A vessel
Vestments
A criss-cross
Contraptions
Candles
A sheath
Sheep
A symbol
A symptom
A sword
Syringes
A blink
Its eye
A lash
Black cats
Jaguars
That which is jagged
That over which we haggle
Sugar Smacks
That which still needs sweetening
Sweetness
A sigh.
Alexandrine adages in other languages
All saying, “to remember” and “it’s been a long time”
The truth behind a lie
Revelation
Praying
Day
Daylight
Lightening
Leaves
Fear no evil
Eve
Ease
and peace that surpasses all understanding.


[i] This poem was written before I learned the correct term for the individual I wished to reference. A person who keeps the history of a tribal community, remembers its royal lineages, and performs its oral histories is called a djali, according to Lesina Martin, Washington, DC-based West African dance instructor. Griot is both a narrower definition for an African storyteller and a French colonial term. Thank you to Lesina. S.T. ​

​
Sarah T. is a writing instructor, poet, and spoken word performer. Her first book, This Past Was Waiting for Me, is a collection of poetry and epistolary prose that explores the manner in which the past—especially America’s colonial past and the race-class hierarchies that it established—plays out in the present. An excerpt of her novel-in-progress appeared in Volume 1, Issue 10 of Azure. Her other work has appeared in Everyday Feminism, The Rumpus, and Sally Hemings Dreams 'zine. 

​Sarah T. is also Sarah J. Trembath, a graduate of Temple and Howard universities.  She teaches at American University and lives in Anacostia, SE, DC with her husband and son.

Back to AZURE (Spring 2017)
AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought is a sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
© Lazuli Literary Group 2018  
|  diana.lazuliliterary@gmail.com / sakina.lazuliliterary@gmail.com  |  847.970.2506 
​  
Illustrations & Logo by Evgenia Barsheva  

  • ABOUT
    • Our Literary Aesthetic
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
    • SUBSCRIBE
  • LIBRARY SHOP
  • AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 3 >
      • MENAGE A TROIS, WITH HORSE by Don Dussault
      • THE BLACK by Ben Colandrea
      • BLUE SKY LANGUAGE by Christien Gholson
      • UN DETECTIVE VIEJO by Franco Strong
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 2 >
      • THE CLEANSING by Linda Dennard
      • SHUFFLE by Debbie Fox
      • DID YOU FALL OR RISE FROM THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING? by M. Ann Reed
      • THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE PORNQUEEN by Omar Sabbagh
      • KIGALI MEMORIAL by Carlos Andres Gomez
      • PANTOUM OF THE MEAT by Ouita Rogers
    • AZURE Volume 3, Issue 1 >
      • HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY by Joanne B. Mulcahy
      • PROTOCOL NINE-NINE-NINE-NINE by Kenneth Hanes
      • LESS' MORE by TWIXT
      • POINTLESS MR. PROBST by Beatriz Seelaender
    • ARCHIVES: VOLUME 2 >
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 4 >
        • SYLVAN PASSAGES by Dan Wood
        • SISTER ALONE by Janet M Powers
        • CENTURY 2.1 by Alan Flurry
        • CLAIMED BY THE SEA by Sam Reese
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 3 >
        • CROSSHATCHING by M.K. Rainey
        • LULLABY by Barbara Daddino
        • HOUSEMOUTH (and other poems) by Anhvu Buchanan and Brent Piller
        • THE RESIDUE IN PUBLIC TEA AND COFFEE CUPS by V.B. Borjen
        • SYZYGY (and other poems) by Malorie Seeley-Sherwood
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 2 >
        • DRAGONFLIES: A DISCOURSE ON ANXIETY by Lara Lillibridge
        • AND RICHARD BURBAGE ALSO HAD A SISTER by Freya Shipley
        • THE WATCHERS by M.K. Rainey
        • JAZZ INTERACTION WITH SYMBOLS by Sarah T.
        • SPIDER (and other poems) by Natalie Crick
      • AZURE Volume 2, Issue 1 >
        • ECHOES by Daniel Freeman
        • MAPS by Susan Brennan
        • EDGAR'S FATHER'S MAGIC WORDS by JWM Morgan
        • LOCKJAW: IN TWO ACTS by James Blevins
        • WHAT THE LIVING DO by Susan Wadds
    • Archives: Volume 1 >
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 10 >
        • SUSURROS DE RECURRENCIA by Franco Strong
        • THE OLD MAN by Sarah T.
        • PERMUTATIONS by Laura Cesarco Eglin
        • WORLD PEACE 3 by Gustavo Alberto Garcia Vaca
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 9 >
        • LITTLE GHOST by Danny Judge
        • THE LAST ALLUSIONIST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • CHURCH by Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 8 >
        • DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS by Nancy Flynn
        • WHAT I COULDN'T SAY by Erika Ranee & Diana McClure
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 7 >
        • BRASS TYRANT AND THE AMERICAN THIRST by Kirk Marshall
        • LADY KILLER by Monika Viola
        • THE RIBBONS by Ferguson Williams
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 6 >
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT 2 - Part 1) by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • NEW AGE UNCAGED by Frank Light
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 5 >
        • THE TRIALS OF TOBIT by Joseph Lisowski
        • LIKE MANY GIANT FOOTPRINTS (and other poems) by William Doreski
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (ACT I) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 4 >
        • WARDENCLIFF by Barbara Daddino
        • BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY by Reg Darling
        • AURELIA: A BALLET IN PROSE (LIBRETTO) by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 3 >
        • LAWTON, OKLAHOMA by Mark Lawley
        • TWEETY BIRD'S GRACE by Diana McClure
        • CONTAGION AND THE DINNER GUEST by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • ON POETRY AND PROSE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 2 >
        • LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Alex Mosiak
        • TWO MICE IN A BLACK BOX & THE DECONSTRUCTION OF LANGUAGE by Sakina B. Fakhri
      • AZURE Volume 1, Issue 1 >
        • CHARACTER SKETCHES by Diana McClure
        • SEASONS ON A GRAVESTONE by Sakina B. Fakhri
        • COCKTAIL PARTY by Diana McClure
        • DESUETUDE by Sakina B. Fakhri
  • SUBMISSIONS
  • CONTESTS
  • BLOG