Poetry: 8 @ 80, SOUL MAN

Grandma's

mama told her
stories
of how they got
over
and she passed them on not
just to your
mama
but to you
Speaking with her
hands
as much as her
mouth
spinning tales through
meals and
handmedown clothes
made new
and moth harps
blown
singing
of the New
Old South
songs which
you
took through the Navy
and then on
into L.A. sunshine
and you felt
the dank dread
of
heartbreak
and loneliness
yet you distilled them
for us
 and we began to
feel
we could make it
if we
tried
even as we
acknowledged
that
universal need for a
shoulder
to
lean on
You blocked
the blaxperts
seeking to model - really to
muzzle -
your soul
and knowing
you just cant smile it
away
you stepped out of
the fake glare
but the musical seeds
were already
popping up
all over
in "modern" r'n' b
and even New Jack
cause
every artist knows
that your
words
and your sounds
make for
A Lovely Day