Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"War Memoir: Jazz, Don't Listen to It at Your Own Risk" by Bob Kaufman is a powerful, multifaceted poem that explores the juxtaposition of jazz—a symbol of life, freedom, and creativity—with the horrors of war and the brutality of humanity. The poem delves into the birth and evolution of human experience, with jazz serving as a persistent undercurrent that both witnesses and critiques the actions and consequences of a violent world.

The poem opens with the imagery of birth: "In the beginning, in the wet / Warm dark place," symbolizing the womb and the origins of life. The description "Straining to break out, clawing at strange cables / Hearing her screams, laughing" captures the duality of birth as both a struggle and a joyous entry into the world. The line "Later we forgave ourselves, we didn’t know" suggests an innocence lost as awareness and experience accumulate.

Kaufman introduces "Some secret jazz" as an omnipresent force, cautioning the newborns with a warning: "wait, don’t go." This personification of jazz as a sentient force, offering advice and caution, sets up the theme of jazz as a guiding yet often ignored presence.

As the poem progresses, it describes the transition from innocence to the harsh realities of the world: "To this mother, father world / Where laughter seems out of place / So we learned to cry, pleased / They pronounce human." The transition from laughter to crying symbolizes the loss of innocence and the realization of the world's harshness. The phrase "pleased / They pronounce human" implies a forced assimilation into a world that demands conformity and suffering.

"Some familiar sound shouted wait / Some are evil, some will hate" reintroduces jazz as a moral conscience, warning of the darker aspects of humanity. The line "Just Jazz, blowing its top again" downplays these warnings, suggesting that society dismisses jazz as mere entertainment or background noise, missing its deeper messages.

The poem then contrasts the innocence of jazz with the violence of the world: "While jazz blew in the night / Suddenly they were too busy to hear a simple sound." This shift highlights how society becomes engrossed in destructive activities, such as "shoving mud in men’s mouths, / Who were busy dying on the living ground." The phrase "busy earning medals, for killing children on deserted street corners" is a poignant critique of war and the senseless violence committed in its name.

Kaufman sharply critiques the dehumanization and moral numbness brought by war, encapsulated in "busy burning Japanese in atomicolorcinemascope / With stereophonic screams." The satirical description of atomic bombings as a cinematic experience underscores the disconnection and desensitization to real human suffering.

The poem questions why people, consumed by violence and power, would take the time to listen to jazz: "What one hundred per cent red blooded savage, would waste precious / time / Listening to jazz, with so many important things going on." This rhetorical question criticizes the prioritization of destruction over culture and empathy.

However, even "the fittest murderers must rest," and in these moments, they "sat down in our blood soaked garments, / and listened to jazz." Here, jazz serves as a momentary escape or confrontation with the humanity they have lost. The music evokes feelings of loss and nostalgia: "They were shocked at the sound of life, long gone from our own."

The poem continues with an evocative description of jazz's pervasive influence: "They wept for it, hugged, kissed it, loved it, joined it, we drank it, / Smoked it, ate with it, slept with it." Jazz becomes intertwined with every aspect of life, even transforming romantic rituals: "They made our girls wear it for lovemaking / Instead of silly lace gowns."

The closing lines reflect on the inevitable return to darker memories: "Now in those terrible moments, when the dark memories come / The secret moments to which we admit no one." Jazz re-emerges in these introspective times, symbolizing a connection to life and emotion that persists despite efforts to ignore or suppress it. The final lines, "Jazz, scratching, digging, blueing, swinging jazz, / And listen, / And feel, & die," suggest that jazz, with its emotional depth and raw expression, forces a confrontation with the self and one's actions, even as it provides solace and understanding.

In "War Memoir: Jazz, Don't Listen to It at Your Own Risk," Kaufman uses jazz as a metaphor for conscience, culture, and the human spirit, contrasting it with the destructiveness and moral corruption of war. The poem is a meditation on the necessity of acknowledging and embracing the artistic and emotional truths that jazz embodies, even in the face of overwhelming violence and moral decay.

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