Jazz Poems
MOOD INDIGO it hasn’t always been this way ellington was not a street robeson no mere memory du bois walked up my father’s stairs hummed some time over me sleeping in the company of men who changed the world it wasn’t always like this why ray barretto used to be a side-man & dizzy’s hair was not always grey i remember i was there i listened in the company of men politics as necessary as collards music even in our dreams our house was filled with all kinds of folks our windows were not cement or steel our doors opened like our daddy’s arms held us safe & loved children growing in the company of men old southern men & young slick ones sonny til was not a boy the clovers no rag-tag orphans our crooners/ we belonged to a whole world nkrumah was no foreigner virgil aikens was not the only fighter it hasn’t always been this way ellington was not a street NTOZAKE SHANGEfrom Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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