“Beehive Records” — a poem by Michael Yellin

_____

Beehive Records

Tonight I’m spinning

the ugly, unhip

jazzmen of Beehive records,

sweating in their transition shades,

mustaches sincere and wide,

collared tapestry shirts,

hair erupting from ears and noses

and they’re killing—

bellicose ogre grunts

from the bari sax;

tasty sweet tenors

tiptoeing along a melody

like morning hikers

traversing a high ridge;

pianos flexing

interstitial muscles

in and around

solid bone themes.

These men resembling

sad middle school

music teachers are

atavists of an

acoustic age,

their flatted fifths

broken apart by the

gleaming precision

of bright sized fusion.

They’re not

cool like Miles,

spiritual like Coltrane,

brilliant like Monk,

so their legacy wanes.

But the unhip hear

their voices coming through:

geeky technicians

keeping the analog

grooves humming.

_____

Michael Yellin lives in Merrimack, NH with his wife, two beautiful daughters, and a little black dog. A relic who is not on Facebook and who still collects CDs, Michael is an English and writing teacher at Making Community Connections charter school in Manchester, NH, and he holds a Ph.D in English from Lehigh University.

Some Beehive Records recordings:

“Billie’s Bounce,” by Nick Brignola, from Baritone Madness (1977)

“Darn That Dream,” by Sal Salvador from Starfingers (1978)

“But Not For Me,” by Dick Katz from In High Profile (1984)

The Beehive Records page at Wikipedia