Jayne Cortez Quotes

11 Sourced Quotes

Find your own voice and use it,
use your own voice and find it.

Jayne Cortez
I cut my hair into a permanent tam
Made my feet rebellious metronomes
Embedded record needles in paint on paper
Talked bopology talk
Laughed in high-pitched saxophone phrases
Became keeper of every Bird riff
every Lester lick

Jayne Cortez
I'm inside of my insides
& I need to distinguish
between the nightmare, the mirage,
the dream and the hallucination

Jayne Cortez
These New York City pigeons
are not calm like pigeons of Oxala in Brazil
and do not croon like doves of Zimbabwe

Jayne Cortez
New York City pigeons
are not content
like pigeons
posing for photos on arms
of men in plaza of Caracas

Jayne Cortez
What would you say to yourself
if you had to lay on your back
hold up the horn
& play 99 courses of
a tune called Flyin' Home
exactly as you recorded it
55 years ago

Jayne Cortez
And if we don't fight
if we don't resist
if we don't organize and unify and
get the power to control our own lives
Then we will wear
the exaggerated look of captivity
the stylized look of submission
the bizarre look of suicide
the dehumanized look of fear
and the decomposed look of repression
forever and ever and ever
And there it is.

Jayne Cortez
I am essence of Rose Solitude
my cheeks are laced with cognac
my hips sealed with five satin nails
I carry dreams and romance of new fools and old
flames
between the musk of fat
and the side pocket of my mink tongue.

Jayne Cortez
I am new york city
of the brown spit and soft tomatoes
give me my confetti of flesh
my marquee of false nipples
my sideshow of open beaks
in my nose of soot
in my ox bled eyes
in my ears of Saturday night specials.

Jayne Cortez
To breathe clean air
to drink pure water to plant new crops
to soak up the rain to wash off the stink
to hold this body and soul together in peace
that's it
Push back the catastrophes.

Jayne Cortez
If the drum is a woman
don't abuse your drum

Jayne Cortez