How Long Has Trane Been Gone
By Jayne Cortez
Tell me about the good things
you clappin & laughin
Will you remember
or will you forget
Forget about the good things
like Blues & Jazz being black
Yeah Black Music
all about you
And the musicians that
write & play about you
a black brother groanin
a black sister moanin
& beautiful black children
ragged . . underfed laughin
not knowin
Will you remember their names
or do they have no names
no lives—only products
to be used when you wanna
dance fuck & cry
You takin—they givin
You livin—they
creating starving dying
trying to make a better tomorrow
Giving you & your children a history
But what do you care about
history—Black History
and John Coltrane
No
All you wanna do
is pat your foot
sip a drink & pretend
with your head bobbin up & down
What do you care about acoustics
bad microphones or out-of-tune pianos
& noise
You the club owners & disc jockeys
made a deal didn’t you
a deal about Black Music
& you really don’t give
a shit long as you take
There was a time
when KGFJ played all black music
from Bird to Johnny Ace
on show after show
but what happened
I’ll tell you what happened
they divided black music
doubled the money
& left us split again
is what happened
John Coltrane’s dead & some
of you
have yet to hear him play
How long how long has that Trane been gone
and how many more Tranes will go
before you understand your life
John Coltrane who had the whole of
life wrapped up in B flat
John Coltrane like Malcolm
True image of Black Masculinity
Now tell me about the good things
I’m telling you about
John Coltrane
A name that should ring
throughout the projects mothers
Mothers with sons
who need John Coltrane
Need the warm arm of his music
like words from a Father
words of Comfort
words of Africa
words of Welcome
How long how long has that Trane been gone
John palpitating love notes
in a lost-found nation
within a nation
His music resounding discovery
signed Always
John Coltrane
Rip those dead white people off
your walls Black People
black people whose walls
should be a hall
A Black Hall Of Fame
so our children will know
will know & be proud
Proud to say I’m from Parker City—Coltrane City—Ornette City
Pharoah City living on Holiday street next to
James Brown park in the State of Malcolm
How Long
how long
will it take for you to understand
that Trane’s been gone
riding in a portable radio
next to your son whose lonely
Who walks walks walks into nothing
no city no state no home no Nothing
how long
How long
Have black people been gone
Notes:
This essay is part of the portfolio “Jayne Cortez: I Imitate No One.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the November 2024 issue.
“How Long Has Trane Been Gone” is excerpted from Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez (Nightboat Books, 2025) and was originally published in Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man’s Wares (1969). We are grateful to Nightboat Books for their assistance in compiling this folio, and to the estate of Jayne Cortez for their permission in reprinting this poems.
Source: Poetry (November 2024)