Selected Jazz Haiku • Mark Jones

languorous swing
of summertime in november—
hush, don’t you cry

***

parker's moose the mooche,
sad tribute to a dealer
over rhythm changes

***

paul smith trio
playing blues for alice,
devout musicians all

***

résumé of art tatum:
piano virtuoso,
dream crusher

***

if you had not been
mean to me
I wouldn't sing this song

***

chords hard as granite,
the bedrock of a question:
so what?

***

and now the weather:
pastorius and zawinul
where late the sweet bird sang

***

just one volume
in this library of babel
tells the jazz story


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Mark Jones is an English professor at Trinity 
Christian College, where he teaches a range 
of subjects including Shakespeare and 
linguistics. As a writing teacher and amateur 
jazz pianist, he is fascinated by improvisation 
in music and in other forms of composition. 
 His work has appeared or is forthcoming in 
Chrysanthemum, Haiku Journal, Pennsylvania 
Literary Journal, and Tenth Muse.