November 2024
Jianqing Zheng
zheng@mvsu.edu
zheng@mvsu.edu
Bio Note: I have reviewed eight photobooks by Leo Touchet and written 25 poems after his photographs. Writing ekphrastic poems challenges imagination and reimagination. My recent books include The Dog Years of Reeducation (Madville 2023) and Dana Gioia: Poet & Critic, coedited with Jon Peede (Mercer UP, 2024).
Waiting
—Leo Touchet’s JazzFest, New Orleans, #2508
Rows of audience, black and white,
sit patiently under the April sun.
Two women chat in the front row,
a man covers his mouth with his
left hand to whisper in the back row.
Some wear sunglasses or smiles,
but most show poker faces, as blank
as terracotta figures. Who are they
waiting for? The loud marching band
or top stars like Thelonious Monk,
B. B. King, Sonny Stitt, Art Blakey,
Dizzy Gillespie or Kai Winding?
Suddenly they all look in the direction
where cheers start to surge over.
They get excited. Soon their waiting
will erupt into a volcano to shake
the ground of their bodies
to express their love of jazz.
Pete Fountain
—Leo Touchet’s Pete Fountain playing on Riverboat for Jazzfest, #2264
A riverboat jazz:
the clarinet swings
side to side
to charm the hearts
for a sleepless
night.
Pete’s play refreshes
a dreamscape
of a jazz trio:
Fountain’s clarinet
Jumbo’s trumpet
Fats’ piano
erupting into
an ecstasy
along Bourbon Street.
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