Greatest Hits Gallery--Steve S.

You never know what might result from an exercise. In this case, it was a suggestion to imitate, in whatever way, Frank O'Hara's famous Why I am not a painter. Steve S. does a kind of double imitation, making it a poem about music, and theology, and poetry (and all poetry teachers argue that every poem is about poetry--self-serving dopes, aren't we?). Maybe jazz, and theology, are so complex they can only be done together? Here's a jazz theologian who thinks they fit well. And here's Steve's "Why I am not a theologian."

Why I Am Not a Theologian---Steve S.

Why I am not a saxophonist:
Saxophone is far from safe
you know saxophone is all the blue
in Chicago siphoned out
like with a syringe and shot
up into my veins is what saxophone is.
If it were me I’d collect the blue
in ordered rows, arranging it by size
and shape and typology of blue,
asking the blue, “What
hue?” and “How deep are you?”
and “Can there really be that many different shades
of blue, if God is good?”
And blue doesn’t really have that kind of patience,
so instead I am a theologian.