Written in Daniel’s voice, when asked why he trusts Heca and the unborn baby with special powers
Who would believe we both framed and hung Bearden’s “Jammin’ at the Savoy” on our separate walls long before we even met?? The mostly primary colors exploding as jazz men work carbon fingers to the bone, frenzied beyond language and no one looks up, no conductor needed, because they’re wrapped in the kind of duende Lorca speaks of—an avalanche of quarters and eighths that coalesce into a groove we both comprehend (since maybe she’s the trumpet and I’m the piano, or maybe she’s the guitar strings and I’m the trumpet sending notes back up into the sky hoping Gabriel will hear), but either way the sun-like orb gleams down and considering we both believed in this stronger than the balm of psalms said on our wedding day, I’ll keep my faith in her, in us, and in Bearden’s cobalt steady bluein’.
Copyright © 2026 by Celeste Doaks. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 14, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.