This evening I'd like to post Martin Willetts, Jr.'s "A Love Supreme," a response to John Coltrane's composition of the same name. I don't think that I've posted much Coltrane on this site, so tonight is a great time to begin.
A Love
Supreme
A four-part suite
composed by John Coltrane, each section is the section title of the suite
1.
Acknowledgement
The
phrase “love supreme” is chanted throughout, and the phrase is written on the
sheet music
I acknowledge the earth I come
from, the sun
pouring from my saxophone.
Sheets of music are the
foundation of love,
love supreme. Love in
brick buildings
blasting with sounds. Love
is always supreme.
I acknowledge the water
which is in our bodies,
bodies of supreme love,
the ebb
of passion bass thumping
in our chests,
pigeons flying through
sheet music
supremely in love with
love, all drenched
in singing, all praising
with wing and dive
in & out of clouds,
making tapestries of love
supreme so everyone can
see it & testify to it.
Love is supreme, the
supreme gift, all acknowledging
that great musician who
sang forth creation.
I acknowledge the air,
breath of musical phrases,
lungs willingly letting noise
of joy
become a supreme unmuted
trumpet
hitting high notes, making
stars for lovers,
love supreme. Love is
supremely divine,
from the Divine, to our divine bodies.
I acknowledge the space
between us and the Divine,
the beginning gong of
creation, the cymbal washes
of life-giving rains
before the sun knew light
and earth knew love as
supreme light.
I acknowledge my personal
struggle for purity.
These impure notes, these
impure desires
not worthy of supreme
love, but craving it
more than a heroin rush,
more than air or earth.
There is a fire in me,
wanting more,
more of myself: to be
supreme in life and love.
Love, supreme love, love
is the center of being,
supreme is the drum set
knowing its rhythm.
Love is supremely pure
coming from the Creator.
I acknowledge my gift
comes from a higher power.
I am powerless until I
submit.
My breath comes through
God through me
through my fingers on a
saxophone
and what you hear is not
me
but God’s extreme supreme
love for me,
for you, for everyone, for
everything, for
ever & ever strung
together blasts of notes
more than I could normally
play.
And the instrument becomes
me,
love becomes me, love
becomes supreme
through me, in me. Love is all-knowing.
Love, love, love: it is
supreme, it is supreme.
I cannot get love out of
my head,
I cannot get that love out
fast enough.
My fingers are not worthy
of such supreme love.
I acknowledge God walking
through me
with four notes of a bass,
and now I must play what
God has given me.
2.
Resolution
I resolve these facts to
be true: I have no control
of my life, what I play,
why I play on the sax,
where I am going when I
play.
When I get there, God will
stop me.
I resolve these facts to
be true: I was given this life
and it is not mine to
destroy, not mine
to change what God wants
of me.
When God stops me, it will
be on his schedule.
I resolve these facts to
be true: love is supreme!
It is more than a couple
exploring possibilities;
it is the entire universe
connected through love.
When love was given by
God, it had no boundaries.
I resolve these facts to
be true: nothing of mine
is mine unless given to
me, nothing is taken from me
unless I was not intended
to have it.
God knows how to love me
better than myself.
I resolve these facts to
be true: Not everyone
can express love, or share
love, but I can love
like God does,
unconditionally, with forgiveness.
God loves me enough to
forgive me.
3.
Pursuance
I can pursue love, but
only if I love enough.
I can be pursued my love,
but only if it catches me
will I know love is
supreme in all things.
My music pursues the elusive
sounds I hear
in my head. Words telling
me
love is supreme, love
supremely.
My body is the strings on
a bass.
My heart can know love,
give love,
but is always short on
giving supremely.
My eyes are a drum,
clashes of cymbals.
When I do not see enough
love,
God sits in on the set
tapping out love beats.
My ears are a piano
pursuing all the keys
to the supreme love. The
white whole notes
are God's laughter. The
black are his true love.
When I woke this morning,
I wrote this composition,
all supremely blowing out
of me like a saxophone,
and love was written onto
the sheet music instead of music.
I was pursuing the gift
before it was taken away,
and when the spirit is in
the air, earth, fire, water,
you cannot escape all that
love, it is so supreme.
4.
Psalm: a music narration where he
played what he could not say but could write
Wordless, wordlessly in
love,
in love with the supreme
words,
these words I cannot say,
testimony is harmony,
I must shout them,
if not with words than
with my music,
the only way I know how to
speak,
how to speak coherently,
for I know so much supreme
love right now,
such speechless love, such
love without end or giving,
I cannot find words worthy
of saying what I feel,
words seem so empty,
missing a beat,
needing a better
instrument than me,
I must turn to the only
way I know how to talk,
preach with my saxophone,
love is supreme
from the most tender
heart, the Creator’s,
comes the most necessary
love of all,
giving all the time
without tiring, without
correcting, without scolding,
a love in the stars as
well in the smallest atom
all connected, all
interconnected, all love
what we are given
is often forgotten
then a note hits the right
mark
all the world finds the
right tempo
then everyone is supremely
loved
love is supreme
darkness parts with love,
love is supreme,
extreme, everlasting,
lasting past death,
coming with birth, filling
every single thing
seen and unseen
with tremendous supreme unconditional
love
Here's a link to John Coltrane's entire album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3L-gL4XmjM
You may also want to hear what remains from his only live performance of this masterwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qt435yF2Qg
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