Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
take the A train
i could sleep with a man
but i'll lay with the souls of black folks
maybe i could grow me something
some azure flower that would smell
like life to me/ a root of some healing spice
might push up from my soils/ if i
dream with the souls of black folks.
what is invisible is not a man
but the spirits of some who were
bigger is not a black boy yearning for an airplane
but the gaze of our children who dont know
why 'we caint get no satisfaction.'
i could sleep with a man
i could even sing with a man
but i gotta rise with the souls of black folks
where could the A train take me
if i dont know where im sposed to go
ellington is not a street.
& my child knows her world
is as rich as people in sorrow can spare/
brash as our bodies in the black forest
but it hasnt always been this way
i swear/ we were not always missing.
Written by Ntozake Shange (1914-2018)
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