Archive Find 1: Jazz Poetry

While visiting Barnard’s Archive this past week, I happened across a jazz poem by a contributor to “Phat Mama”. The poem, entitled me & miles, contributed by Thulani Davis (formerly Barbara Davis) talks about the way Miles Davis’ music influenced the narrator beginning as early as childhood– “when i was a childhood/then and oh yeah now/ me and miles/ had a/ real/ thing.”

Phat Mama magazine cover art

The poem succeeds in focusing on the way his music communicated a relatability to feelings of melancholy. Mentions of his impact being felt by folks as early as childhood also made this poem especially interesting to me. As the semester progresses and project aims become more refined, centralizing the transfer of knowledge (i.e. histories, healing/survival practices) as content; and music, dance, poetry, painting as forms of an inter-generational communication of that knowledge remain salient for my project. My appreciation for this poem lays in the way it recognizes the limited ability one’s own expressive form can, sometimes, have in communicating certain feelings and experiences. Validating and emphasizing the need to rely on someone else’s artistic expression suggests a sense of community that I hope the collaboration between Gabby and I will successfully communicate as well.

In order to use these archival items (print material), researchers would follow the following Barnard Archive Guidelines:

Print Archival Material Citation:

Identification of Specific Item; Date (if known); Collection number- Collection name, inclusive dates; Box and Folder; Barnard Archives and Collections, Barnard Library, Barnard College.