Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy
tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go husha-
husha-hush with the slippery sand-paper.
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome treetops,
moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a
racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop, bang-bang!
you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns,
tin cans - make two people fight on the top of a stairway
and scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down
the stairs.
Can the rough stuff . . . now a Mississippi steamboat pushes
up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo . . . and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars . . . a red moon rides
on the humps of the low river hills . . . go to it, O jazzmen.
Jazz Fantasia
Carl Sandburg
(1)
Poem topics: autumn, away, car, green, happy, moon, night, people, red, wind, fight, long, terrible, cool, paper, river, high, soft, I love you, I miss you, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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About Jazz Fantasia
Jazz Fantasia is a poem by Carl Sandburg. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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