Listening to Copland

1.

When I

was young 

I listened to

Billy the Kid

I galloped 

across the

living room floor

giddy upping

in an ecstatic 

square dance

with my beloved

America

excitedly 

enraptured

boundlessly

enthralled

in youthful

zeal

ebulliently  

yodeling

hymns

whistling 

reveries to

America’s 

heroic prairie 

songs

a precocious 

kinder beaming  

moved and illumined

by the broiling fanfare

of trilling trumpets

to uphold the promise

I pledged allegiance

to diligent  work

galloping onward

on ponies of 

reverent faith

respectful duty

playful engagement

and guardianship

2.

expectation 

never fell short

of resounding

supranaturalistic 

optimism

energising

the sweep of

a nation’s 

self evident

exceptionalism

our democratic

vista stirred 

and steeped

a nation of 

wheelwrights

building

wagon trains 

to traverse 

stratified

social latitudes

with sturdy ladders

erected with common

sense sensibility 

of hands to work

and hearts to God

earthen

yeoman 

farmers 

dancing in 

wheat fields

threshing sheaves

of prosperity

their exertions 

elevating 

families 

raising

a glorious chorus, 

a peeling crescendo

of horns of plenty

splayed across 

landscapes of

an ennobled

nation

placing fruits

of labor upon 

ascendent

alters to

to receive

the anointing 

of abundance

the lighted grace

of infinite possibilities

shines for a grueling 

world listening to the 

clamouring drumbeats 

sounding in the hearts 

of all grace anointed 

republicans

3.  

No lullabies

no quiet moonlit nights

we ardently

dance on keys

boasting soul

filled dexterity

the quick self 

assuredness

extemporaneously

jazz tapping

across bold

hidden rondos

grasping

transcendence

squarely set

in the minds eye

of unbroken resolve

our cool countenance

an unassailable

righteous destination 

any

spare sweeping

plaintive introspection

lends space to

affirm

an

affirmation

beginning 

with the individual

unum to e pluribus

solitary dancers 

incorporated into 

fully enfranchised

troopers

the gyrations 

the rhythms and steps

of individuated melodies

join to form a harmonious whole

a beautifully woven consensus

this democratic symphony

perfected in an intelligent 

choreography of 

separate people

sojourning  

toward

a mutually 

constructed 

shared destiny

aspirational desires

call forth generations 

of spirits boldly engaging

the challenges upholding 

the rights and privilege

of all citizens

the celebratory harvest

of a new nations

natural law

 4. 

As a man

I cruise 

along 

Main Street

in a joyless

joy ride

gliding by

disassembled

factories

moldering schools

defunct governments

surveying the 

demolished ruins

of cities,

the decrepit

wrecking ball

of history

is busy, 

rolling through 

towns

not worthy 

of cast iron

destruction

forged in 

foreign kilns

we built palaces

to democracy

in the tiniest hamlets

dotting the granges

wholly assimilated 

into a national congress

of freemen

today our

congress 

is scattered

dialog seeking

resolution is considered

betrayal to holy

partisanship...

selfish insistence

masquerades as

high ideals

we have 

reduced

the peoples

house 

to a battlefield

for tribes…..

once freemen 

now captives….

soulless ghosts

wandering lost

inside grand 

rotundas...

mocked 

by murals

and inert

granite statuary

howling

expiration dates

of timeless

psalms

sojourning

the trail of tears

drinking from bowls

of anguish

our only

respite 

the silent

ruins we

find impossible

to leave

fear fills our bellies

rust stains our hearts

abiding acrimony

ain’t easily brushed

from dust laden cloths

the deconstruction

of dead cities, mark

expired civilizations

centuries in the making

hammered by the blows 

of the mightiest blacksmiths

with precision and deft craft

5.

the spareness of 

Martha Graham's set

frame black shadows 

of fortitude

it always starts 

with the individual

then surely 

sure footedness

measured footsteps

boldly dance about

the lily pads

of the keyboard

a resounding ballet

the arms wave

like swaying stalks of wheat

but hurry to respond

opportunity knocks

conditions change

the group awaits

to be joined

my pirouette

remains my solitary mark

on the weaving spindles

crafting the mosaic

of a complex American

complexion

the possibility

the promise

laid before us

wheat fields

of democracy

tilled planted

attended

the wondrous yields of

an Appalachian Spring

the promise

hectare of grace

apportioned to all

citizens

the promise

harvest of liberty

freedom 

of opportunity

all anointed

freemen

conferred an

amazing grace

civil discourse

was once spoken

we can learn the

lost languages again

sitting on the porch

with neighbors

sipping ice tea

sharing thoughts on 

hot summer evenings

caring too care

but scoundrels 

became heroes

we fetishized

idiosyncrasies

of insisted 

entitlement

we damned

the whole by

exalting the part 

we dare not condemn them

lest we condemn ourselves

6.

the west was once woolly wild

I hear the sweeping sound

of my youth rustle again

the dramatic symphony

of a brilliant people

filled with courage

undeterred optimism

claiming a continent

manifesting a new 

Pax Americana 

a century 

of immigrants  

coming to integrate

coming to assimilate

coming to believe in the promise

coming to make a new promise

I came to hear Copland

when I was young

when America was young

when promises were made

and sworn by a brilliant

fanfare of trumpets

when America was young

Copland composed

when America was young

a promise was made

come forth brothers

come forth sisters

come claim

the promise

of a simple gift

Aaron Copland: 

Billy The Kid

11/29/11

Oakland

jbm