How Long Has Trane Been Gone

Tell me about the good things

you clappin & laughin

Will you remember

or will you forget

Forget about the good things

like Blues & Jazz being black

Yeah Black Music

all about you

And the musicians that

write & play about you

a black brother groanin

a black sister moanin

& beautiful black children

ragged . . underfed laughin

not knowin

Will you remember their names

or do they have no names

no lives—only products

to be used when you wanna

dance fuck & cry

You takin—they givin

You livin—they

creating starving dying

trying to make a better tomorrow

Giving you & your children a history

But what do you care about

history—Black History

and John Coltrane

No

All you wanna do

is pat your foot

sip a drink & pretend

with your head bobbin up & down

What do you care about acoustics

bad microphones or out-of-tune pianos

& noise

You the club owners & disc jockeys

made a deal didn’t you

a deal about Black Music

& you really don’t give

a shit long as you take

There was a time

when KGFJ played all black music

from Bird to Johnny Ace

on show after show

but what happened

I’ll tell you what happened

they divided black music

doubled the money

& left us split again

is what happened

John Coltrane’s dead & some

of you

have yet to hear him play

How long how long has that Trane been gone

and how many more Tranes will go

before you understand your life

John Coltrane who had the whole of

life wrapped up in B flat

John Coltrane like Malcolm

True image of Black Masculinity

Now tell me about the good things

I’m telling you about

John Coltrane

A name that should ring

throughout the projects mothers

Mothers with sons

who need John Coltrane

Need the warm arm of his music

like words from a Father

words of Comfort

words of Africa

words of Welcome

How long how long has that Trane been gone

John palpitating love notes

in a lost-found nation

within a nation

His music resounding discovery

signed Always

John Coltrane

Rip those dead white people off

your walls Black People

black people whose walls

should be a hall

A Black Hall Of Fame

so our children will know

will know & be proud

Proud to say I’m from Parker City—Coltrane City—Ornette City

Pharoah City living on Holiday street next to

James Brown park in the State of Malcolm

How Long

how long

will it take for you to understand

that Trane’s been gone

riding in a portable radio

next to your son whose lonely

Who walks walks walks into nothing

no city no state no home no Nothing

how long

How long

Have black people been gone