John McDonald

This evening I would like to welcome the Scottish poet John McDonald to The Song Is... and to thank Angelee Deodhar for directing him here.  She also created the visual setting for his words.

Let's start with John's haibun and Angelee's image for Miles Davis.  It is better to click on these visuals so that you can read John's words more easily.

Enjoy some "Bad Penny Blues," a haibun about jazz in Glasgow.

Let's shift gears with "Wrapped in the West Wind" and the other poems below.

One of my husband's friends from Purdue was an advocate of Hemingway's writing.  I wonder what he would make of this haibun.

This is the time to think of the ocean.

I'll conclude with John's haiku.

wind through

the refugee camp  -

orchestra of bones

Let's play some Miles Davis here.

My husband plays the recording of "Green Dolphin Street" quite often:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrVnm66joQk

This is the Miles Davis Quintet's version of Monk's "Well You Needn't":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQAz2I2c_ws

His "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" starts off Steamin':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mbCuFn3EH4

It's time to be Relaxin' with "If I Were a Bell":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36wafFjFdYs

I'll finish with "It Never Entered My Mind" from Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Np8PJDGq_A