Mahalia Jackson in  General   

« I sing the LORD'S songs »
(palms once tough to stay alive,
alarm clock on five).

Cinnamon cheeks, Lord,
cornbread smile.     SONGS     feed your ribs
when you're hungry, chile.

Washboard certainties,
soldierly grace, text and style
in her brimming face.

Your hand on your heart,
her voice in your ear:     pilgrim,
rest easy.     Sit here.


 

By James A. Emanuel

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Other poems by James A. Emanuel:

• A Fool For Evergreen
• Bojangles And Jo
• Charlie "Bird" Parker
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Emmett Till *
• False Notions, Fears, And Other Things Of Wood
• Fishermen
• Four-Letter Word
• Françoise And The Fruit Farmer
• Greens
• Jazzanatomy
• John Coltrane
• Louis Armstrong And Duke Ellington
• Mahalia Jackson
• Michael Jackson
• Poet As Fisherman
• The Treehouse
• The Young Ones, Flip Side
• Wishes, For Alix