Father's Day Gratitude for My Son Angelo

My son Angelo made a beautiful gift for me this Father's Day, and so I asked permission to share it with you. Every day I am astounded by the person he is, and the man he is becoming. His emotional, physical, intellectual, and creative ability blows me away. He is light years beyond anything I was able to accomplish at 15. I have no doubt that he will continue to amaze, and have many adventures. I love him more than words can adequately express.

   

Two Poems for Ornette Coleman (1930-2015)

Ornette Coleman

Battery Park, NYC

June 1, 2000

ornette says sound is imagination free of grammar sound is grammar free yarmulke prayer sway hands clasped neath tree “last time I seen Miles was” freedom symbol chamber dozens global expression harmolodics homicide administered ornette match foghorn blow unwelcome jackhammer accompaniment enraged the crowd erupts “turn it down – turn that machine down” lights brought up and still they hit it hit it hit it sound is free of grammar  hear no sound but the glory of three “THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!”

If you know the name of the artist who created this image, email me at chirstopherjluna@gmail.com

“ornette is a genius, he can do whatever he wants” 

the sound will follow you as well/squeal and squirm/shift and drift/here & also there/challenged by multiple through lines (rivers)/hover above white rust/stick flies off into black/before word, sound/pause to breathe/ snapped out of a reverie/up and leaves/low moan crawls forward/Ornette picks up the trumpet briefly, puts it down/dread builds/where are we going?/who will show us the way?/chest cracked open like a walnut shell/vortex release/tide pulls/red stretch around the front/miles invoked, summoned/sunrise convulsion/look at out/funk stroll/whole life in the bag you’re in/blondes arise in mind’s eye/ follow (him) up/are you in the right building?/the right church?/doors once open never close/sound like him/ resurrect him?/finished, not/suddenly a violin/ interjects/to attend to/delicate circularity/five become one/don’t put a number on/not everyone departs/ together/wipe away, move/secret to be/ completely awake/yet malleable/so many moments/missed/notes work their way in up out & through/flutter seed/attention/trickster polymath/complex equations/stepped up/twos become threes/ejaculatory breakthrough/ 

"thank you, ornette"

encore: look/remember/lonely woman/precedent/evening praise/circle closed/complete                                                  

                        dance of clarity

                            the road forms

                                under our feet

                                      new foundation

                                        of our creation

  

Christopher Luna

Arlene Shnitzer Concert Hall

Friday February 15, 2008

 

With thanks for Antoinette, who bought me the tickets.

Sweet Niece Suite, for Coraline and Eliana

Sweet Niece Suite

A pair of acrostics to celebrate the two newest members of our family

Coraline

Commingling results in the creation

Of new life in the form of

Raging ecstasy embodied in

A soft, pudgy bundle

Love made manifest

Infinite joyful gift to her parents

Never again to be merely lovers, united in their devotion to an

Extraordinary daughter. 

Eliana

Every life is a miracle, but some more than others

Love yearns to perpetuate itself

In as many forms as possible

Anticipation renders delivery ever so sweet

No more waiting, only

Annual celebration of a perfect miracle made flesh