FEATURES

All Rhodes Lead Home
by L. Kasimu Harris

Song of My People
by Arthur Pfister aka Professor Arturo

Dignity In Schools
by Orissa Arend

A Terrific Trinity
by Fallon Jai

Columns & Departments

Forum

Month in Review

Blackonomics

 

 

Song of My People
(a “Katrina poem” for all y’all)

Prelude
In the Name of the Lord…

I sing a song of the golden times of our daze
of memories of good times past
of rippin’ and runnin’ in comfort and convenience
before the stresses and strain, the agony and pain
the wind and the rain
of bounty and beauty devotion and duty

I sing of enchanted streets and magnificent, ancient oaks
of gleaming steeples and spires pointing heavenward
of age-old myth and legend

I sing the city’s praises, its beckoning beauty that amazes
I sing a song of the sonorous sound of a southern city
slumbering in the sun…
I sing of Old Man River’s untroubled waters, lapping at the shore
(rolling merrily, merrily along)
I sing of light and legacy, lust and longing
I sing of politics, polemics and assorted academics
(their hopes, fears and extinguished careers)
I sing of gaily-colored, ivy-covered, iron lace fences,
haunted honkytonks, graceful galleries and shotgun houses
of broad avenues and resplendent homes
of cascades of colors and ambrosiac flavors
of grand gardenias and wild magnolias
of beautifully bountiful music and beatific smiles
of red beans, rice and a streetcar named CANAL
of a crescent-shaped city, unremembered by care
I sing of sun-drenched bankets and horse & buggy street merchants
(“Ice-cold peaches, ba-na-nas, watah-me-el-el-on!!!…”)
and music and magic
of melody, madness, naughtiness and badness
of passion and pain and warm, summer rain…

I sing of shouts and hollers and spendless dollars
I sing the red, black and green amidst the red, white and blues
I sing of life before the storm
of carnival ballers and midnite crawlers
I sing of the people, thru the people, to the people…
I sing of the poor and the innocent
(their limited means and deferred dreams)
I sing of the “other” America (the underserved and unreserved)
-the expendables (the great, swirling masses)
-the displaced and dispossessed (the unusual suspects)

I sing of lust and desire in the muck and the mire
of gumboed smells seeping thru ancient, project-green screened doors
of pralines and piano professors beers and chandeliers
of day-old donuts, Oreos, crackers (and assorted nuts)
I sing of sugary, sweet surprise in the children’s bulgingly bright, sunrise eyes
of snowballs, frozen cups, zips and hucklebucks
of tsunamis of sound in shadowy cafes
of delirious 2nd line dancing, git-togethers (blues and barbecues)

I sing this song of passion and praise, bearing witness

to the splendor of His creation…