Miles Davis by Alexis Gomez Rosa & Suzanne Jill Levine
Around my house, there’s always music. It comforts me, pumps me up, cheers me on. Here’s one by Alexis Gomez Rosa, translated by Suzanne Jill Levine. May it sweep you away like the songs and musicians it celebrates.
Photo courtesy Brian Landis
Miles Davis (musical homage to Jack Johnson)
translated from the Spanish of Alexis Gomez Rosa,
by Suzanne Jill Levine
When I play, just like when I box
I don’t lower my guard, no sir.
Because boxing gives me strength,
I always blow hard when I corner inside me
my opponent who tends to hide,
No way, I don’t lower my guard.
On alto, up high, that note I pull out of the sky
— cause I take from boxing
that sure shot, that bulls-eye — penetrates
the audience and in its chain of watchful lights,
I don’t lower my guard, no way man.
Yo Jack up with that note
from high in the sky!
Miles Davis (Homenaje musical a Jack Johnson)
de Alexis Gomez Rosa
Como en el boxeo, cuando toco,
yo no bajo la guardia.
Porque me da fuerza el boxeo,
siempre soplo acorralando al adversario
que en mi tiende a ocultarse,
yo no bajo la guardia.
En alto, muy arriba, esa nota que al cielo
arranco, porque guardo del boxeo
su certera mirada, penetra el auditorium
y su cadena de luces vigilantes,
yo no bajo la guardia, socio.
¡Arriba Jack esa nota
de alto cielo!
Toast was a weekly email newsletter that ran from July 2018 to March 2019. All of the pieces from Toast’s run and more can be read in Solo Novo 5/6.
- Glenna Luschei, Abiding Publisher and Editor Emeritus
- Benjamin Daniel Lawless, Editor in Chief
- Tom Harrington, Contributing Editor
- Rena Ferro, Managing Editor
- Brian Landis, Photographer and Advisor