im dizzy gillespie
they come these sister memories
i
a field of asphodels
spreading a patina
on the copper ground
and the coptic winds
the el hossum and el kabira
trumpeting the spring
a clarion call for us boys
to pitch ourselves skywards
in an improvisation of kites
the imprint and burn
on the pads of my fingers
at each turn of the riffing kite
to scale the scudding air
a handful of bamboo canes
split with hammer and knife
hemp string to bind them
plain flour and water for glue
and a paper sail for flight
the skin taut as a snare drum
ad libbing to the tugs of air
and then as if on an upbeat
the sky fills with kites
wafer-thin moons
a sudden flotilla
a jazz of sails and rigging
trimmed in the reach
of beckoning winds
I loved the haul and strain
the soaring climb
on the arc of a single line
and when the wind drops
the dizzy tumble and spin
the rush to reel the slack line in
then to feel again the wind’s pull
like a restive thoroughbred
racing on and off the bridle
only when the line’s played out
and the kite sits a tethered god
a detached stillness
in the streaming air
above the minarets and spires
was it time to offer up a prayer
a card notched like a key hole
hooked onto the steady line
is coaxed upwards to the kite
my arms levering to and fro
gestures of suplication
flex to the will of the wind
ii
freed from the silt of the world
its dark enclosure
by ptolemy his geographic guide
berlinghieri the florentine said
he was lifted skywards
the odyssey lasted seven days
this is a view nothing can hide
look right and then look left
ptolemy said and direct your gaze
over the curving earth
see people beyond count
the places you can measure
above ptolemy’s known world
in the berlinghieri atlas
there are windheads in the skies
their cheeks are pouched like globes
trumpeting a fanfare
at the wonders of the earth below
iii
now I imagine
every high flying
kite mastering the winds
to be john birks dizzy gillespie
bebopping round the world
his skywards pointing trumpet
reaching for the high note
a prayer for the heyday
a world without passports
