Soon after Freedom
Jim Crow was declared
Between Civil War and Civil Rights.
Holocaust like a virus spread
Another century went by

Miss Mae remembers the small crowds
when you came in as Ma Rainey left town,
taking with her all their money and their hearts;
but huge crowds for her - and Bessie's - closing shows.

Your noose of deaf zeal is
As tight as the stem of strange fruit
As damning as the rod spared
As stifling as the bleached white hood of night

A little boy had read numerous stories in his children's books about different life and death struggles between a Man and a Lion. But no matter how ferociously the lion fought, the Man emerged victoriously every time. Puzzled, the boy asked his father: "Why is it, Daddy, that the Man always beats the Lion, when everybody knows that a lion is the toughest cat in all the jungle?" The father answered, "Son, those stories will always end that way…until lions learn how to

Done tip-toeing,

Done bowing,

Done living an apology

For things done to my generation