by Bryant Stratton
It calls out to be heard,
not with noise,
but with knowing.
The pulse beneath the surface,
the whisper beneath the wind.
A rhythm not yet played,
but aching to be felt.
The possibility to change lives,
not in grand speeches,
but in sacred, simple steps.
In the quiet moment of offering,
in the hand extended without need,
in the decision to give,
even when it costs something real.
It’s just over the next hill,
past fear,
beyond the boundaries of control,
where maps dissolve
and meaning begins.
That,
that is where jazz is made.
Not written.
Not forced.
But found
in the sacred tension between
what is and what could be.
It’s the same pulse that drives the well-lived life,
improvised, yet intentional.
Wild, but anchored.
Rooted in one undeniable truth:
We can always give more.
Inspiration, organization, and community orchestration
aren’t reserved for the few.
They live within us all.
Simple solutions (when given room)
can move mountains,
heal hearts,
and light the way forward.
These aren’t ideas.
They’re realizations, born of research, tested in fire,
and refined through years of implementing
community capital coordination.
A new way to lift each other.
A new rhythm to move in.
One built not on extraction,
but expression.
So let’s give more.
Not because we’re told to.
But because we can,
and in doing so,
we join the song already playing.
A song that leads us,
and those we serve,
into a brighter, more connected future.
That is where jazz is made.
That is where we are made.
