Jazz Poems

POEM

Little brown boy,

Slim, dark, big-eyed,

Crooning love songs to your banjo

Down at Lafayette–

Gee, boy, I love the way you hold your head,

High sort of and a bit to one side,

Like a prince, a jazz prince, And I love

Your eyes flashing, and your hands,

And your patent-leathered feet

And your shoulders jerking the jig-wa.

And I love your teeth flashing,

And the way your hair shines in the spotlight

Like it was the real stuff.

Gee, brown boy, I loves you all

I’m glad I’m a jig. I’m glad I can

Understand your dancin’ and your

Singin’ and feel all the happiness

And joy and don’t-care in you.

Gee, boy, when you sing, I can close my ears

And hear tom-toms just as plain.

Listen to me, will you, what do I know

About tom-toms? But I like the word, sort of,

Don’t you? It belongs to us.

Gee, boy, I love the way you hold your head,

And the way you sing and dance,

And everything.

Say, I think you’re wonderful. You’re

All right with me.

You are.

HELENE JOHNSON

from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young

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