Down, down into the fathomless depths, down into the abyss beneath the stone.
Down still farther, to the very bottom of the infinite.
Where black-eyed peas & greens are stored, where de lawd sits among melon rinds.
A dark blue sound (funky & barefooted) entered & sang a tear for the people of black women (buxom & beautiful)
With happy head & cocoa filled breast nippled with molasses, & their legs sensual & long beneath short bright dresses & of black men greasy from the sun-soaked fields sitting in the shade, their guitars, the willow & the squatting sun weeping authentic blues.
These q
learn moreAnd one morning while in the woods I stumbled suddenly upon the thing, Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly oaks and elms.
And the sooty details of the rose, thrusting themselves between the world and me. There was a design of white bones slumbering forgottenly upon a cushion of ashes.
There was a charred stump of a sapling pointing a blunt finger accusingly at the sky.
This R&B tune from 1948 is about Dinah’s dentist, Long John. She visits him to get her cavity filled, of course….
learn moreNo one to talk with
All by myself
No one to walk with
But I’m happy on the shelf
Ain’t misbehavin’
I’m savin’ my love for you
I know for certain
The one I love
I’m through with flirtin’
It’s just you I’m thinkin’ of
Ain’t misbehavin’
I’m savin’ my love for you
Like Jack Horner
In the corner
Don’t go nowhere
What do I care?
Your kisses are worth waitin’ for
Believe me
I don’t stay out late
Don’t care to go
I’m home about eight
Just me and my radio
Ain’t misbehavin’
I’m savin’ my love for you…
From the 1929 musical comedy “Hot Chocolates”, scored by Fats Waller
als
I want me a home Man do you hear me
I want me a home you understand.
You done stood and let that cracker take my home
Now I want me a home, nigger
I wants a land that’s mine.
I hardly remember my home been so long
You stood idle
Now you git off ya ass and make me a home
Make me a land that’s mine
So I can set a spell
And breathe fresh air
And ease my mind
live-
and love-
and be buried
in a land that’s mine…..
Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too.
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye;
“Their color is a diabolic dye.”
Remember, Christian, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refined and join the angelic train……
From the complete works of Phillis Wheatley, copyright 1988, Oxford University Press by permission.
Reference:
Phyllis Wheatley
Amos is a shepherd of suffering sheep;
A pastor preaching in the depths of Alabama
Preaching social justice to the Southland
Preaching to the poor a new gospel of love
With words of a god and the dreams of a man
Amos is our loving Shepherd of the sheep Crying out to the stricken land
“You have sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes.
My God is a mighty avenger And He shall come with His rod in His hand.”
Preaching to the persecuted and the disinherited millions
Preaching love and justice to the solid southern land
Amos is a Prophet with a vision of brother
