Tyehimba Jess

Detroit

Blind Tom plays on… -

Who am I to deny this world? This gift
of music storming through me? It howls out
my fingers when I reach into God's mouth
of piano, grabbin' fistfuls of sun with
each song. It spins me in circles, surrounds
me in starshine, mounts my head, hands and heart
till I tell it what it wants, tell it how
we are all one wave of notes in the dark
gospel of the universe. Can't you hear
the chorus of moonlight? Can't you see
the way each note shines? It's all right here
just beneath the skin, like something I seem
to remember - the sound of my mother crying
while her hands danced across me—free, flying…
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