A personal tribute to Keith

Dedicated to You, That Can No Longer Listen

for Keith Tippett

Mutton chop warrior, Pianist

Bristolian brother to the note

breaker

of the complacent shake of the 12-bar boogie

all imitation.

Mild mannered shuffler in old tweed,

beyond fashion, compromise

or clique, old boy connection.

Master of the whip of sound

conjurer of unknown shape, combination

seeder of the invisible republic of love

colony of the inner ear, the people’s future music.

Nothing written, staged, each moment unique

in otherness, humility of being

to lay himself at the foot of a beauty,

a gateway in

fingers moving beyond sight

last year’s footwear pressed though the pedals

onto a pathway through the garden of ourselves

out, into August air.