(x = space)

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A Jazz Mass

(recovering lost verse)

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Jazz mass

A mass of jazz

Inside the church

That might

Be

Preservation Hall

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Or come with me

To Cleveland

Or

New Liberty

Or a flat place in a field

With divots

Happening to happen

Just right for

Our instruments

To rest

While we musicians

Get to listen,

While exhaling,

Too

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Inside the halls

Of the Lord

Which might have heaven

For a ceiling

With hell beneath the basement

So let’s stay here

On Earth

To worship

In good syncopation

(planned,

unplanned)

With an aim

Sometimes

To raise that roof

More heaven-toward

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Loud

Or soft,

Sharing the stories

Of both places

And our prophets

And

Our prospects

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Don’t charge for tickets

Maybe leave

A jar

Inside the door

More visible

When leaving

Should

We leave

Because there might be food

(after spiritual food)

And then another

Set-to

All of us

Jazzy playing

Jazzy-praying

To the Lord

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C L Couch

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A Jazz Mass is a worship service with service music and hymns played in a Jazz genre.

Jazz Mass | Saint Ambrose Episcopal Church

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Photo by Mary Hammel on Unsplash

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