I Know My Place

I know my place too well

And I refuse to stay there

This place wasn’t made for me

It wasn’t made by me

It is a gilded cage

Designed to help me forget

Freedom

To help me deny truth

 

I’m quintessential artist

Channeling spirituality and culture

Like an appointed institution;

A craftsman coloring within lines

Just to learn where they are

Before exploring everywhere else

Including between them and completely  

Off the page

 

Please talk about me when I’m gone

Otherwise why did I take so much risk

Y was I determined to “sing it wrong”

Why did I value wise over complicit and numb

I did it for show and for my own education

I do it now: it’s my accumulation of wealth

I would/I will do it again only better with gusto

I do it because it’s perpetual motion and true

 

You said “this is not about Coltrane”

But of course it is – I’m about John Coltrane

Everything is about what he said through his horns

And what he didn’t get around to…

We underestimate the power of true devotion

And shy away from A Love Supreme

I know my place because of the life he made

I know to leave it because it’s not my home