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Sonic Fireflies

1939 –

the beauty of jazz & blues voices,
syncopation of syllables flowing
free form through improvising sentences
sluicing, embracing, metaphors glowing
eyes in the dark are words imitating
fireflies pulsating bright in a black sky
are gleaming eyes of a prowling black panther
suddenly clicking on bright as flashlight beams
under moon rays probing hidden places
isolated mysterious somewhere
deep in a buzzing alive countryside

Poet, performer, and editor Quincy Troupe received the American Book Award for his work Snake-Back Solos: Selected Poems, 1969-1977.

Occasion

Themes

About this Poem

“I wrote my first draft of ‘Sonic Fireflies’ in the summer of 2020 in Gloster, Mississippi, a small, rural town of about 900 people and the birthplace of my wife, Margaret Porter Troupe. I wrote it while sitting outside at night watching the abdomens of fireflies blinking on and off as they flew pulsating among the shadows and branches of trees and small bushes. The fireflies reminded me of the bright eyes of a black panther or flashlight beams blinking on and off under a beautiful full moon with its rays probing hidden places. I titled the poem ‘Sonic Fireflies’ because I could hear insects buzzing everywhere in the darkness of the countryside, so alive with sound, I thought I was listening to a symphonic orchestra. I wrote the poem in free verse, though I chose 11 lines—I love writing poems in 7 or 11 lines, with 7 or 11 syllables per line—because it reminds me of winning the game of dice; when you throw 7 or 11, rather than snake eyes, you win.”
—Quincy Troupe

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More by this poet

The Hours Fly Quick

the hours fly quick on wings of clipped winds
like nonsense blown from mouths of hot air—
people—including my own—form syllables, suds,
words shot through pursed lips like greased sleaze
& bloom inside all these rooms dominated by television’s
babble sluicing idiot images invented in modern test tubes—
clones—blinking, slathering all over controlled airwaves
of an up-for-sale world, blinking a paucity of spirit,
so dance you leering ventriloquists, marionettes,
you greedy counterfeits, dance, dance, dance

Quincy Troupe

2016

Errancities

^{—for Edouard Glissant}

1.
the mind wanders as a line of poetry taking flight meanders
in the way birds spreading wings lift into space knowing
skies are full of surprises like errançities encountering restless
journeys as in the edgy solos of miles davis or jimi hendrix

Quincy Troupe

2012

The Day Duke Raised: May 24th, 1974

For Duke Ellington

Quincy Troupe

2002

Poems

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Sonic Fireflies

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