Middle Passage
by vincent kobelt

Way we wade in water,
Drowning in classical music:

Plink, plank our bodies plunk
Beneath blanket of piano waves,

Swallowed by color
Of violins vibrating voluminous blues
Of dread,

Summoning shark migration
That feed upon our
Fellatah, Yoroba, Mandingo,
Ibo, Hausa bodies for hundreds of years,

Yet some of us survive
And make it to unknown lands
To baptize their children in the Mississippi,
Sang them blistering blues in the sweltering South,
Spit spat
Sputtering jazz
Uttering fluttering notes
On Central Ave
At the Dunbar hotel.



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Updated: 4/22/04