Homage to John Coltrane by John Sinclair

for David Sandburg

1

you are sorry you are born with ears 

or you are sorry. yr
ears. how they can become
the stuff of such lies.

how a man can stand, & fall. stand. a
coil
around things.  a sound

(or a test
of what music
can bear. a

SCREAM

for the time

2

John Coltrane can do this for us :

teach us to stand
up right
in the face of the most devas-
tating insensi-
tivity. can touch us
where the hand or mouth or
eye

can t go. can see. can be
a man. make a love
from centuries of unplumbed music
& a common metal tool
anyone can misuse.

can make you think
of a lot of weird & wonderful things :

yrself.

beauty.

love.

gold & miles

of trees. elvin

jones. murdered

dreams. a-

pocalypse.

turtles.

the moon (& be-

yond.

ornette.

grapefruits.

silver pendulums.

M U S I C

t i m e .

Screaming,
jumping up & down, moaning
for some strange new dignity

before anyone can listen. before
time. before promises,
& lies. before it all collapses
on our heads.

before it’s too late

3

If you ve ever sat in a Coltrane audience,
you ll understand
what I mean. 

It could happen
to you, too, a loss
of control, a be-

ginning, a reshaping
of what they ve always told you
to believe, the old forms

& music,  that we ve been fooled with,
the songs  they taught you,
& lied.

when we begin to understand that
what we ve been told is
how they can put us exactly
where they have to believe
we have to be

4

man,

if you can t hear,

what can you do?

yr born

with ears

Detroit
1965

Quotations in italics from LeRoi Jones  liner notes to
Coltrane Live At Birdland (Impulse Records)

Source: John Sinclair, from Song of Praise

Tags: John Coltrane, John Sinclair