Dementia for 2

I love to read poetry. I like to hear poetry in music. I don't like the childish rhymes of childhood. I like the complex stop and think poetry. I like to read Puritan prayers because of the poetry I see in them. One of my favorite blues singers is Billy Holiday. Favorite song? Strange Fruit without a doubt. A haunting, melancholy, truth makes me sick song. If you have never heard it I encourage you to do so.

If you go to the poetry foundation you can find some really interesting poetry to read. I wanted to share two of the ones i found that i really liked. they are both by Yusef Komunyakaa. I hope they give you some food for thought today.

Reflections

In the day's mirror
you see a tall black man.
Fingers of gold cattail
tremble,then you witness
the rope dangling
from a limb of white oak.
It's come to this.
You yell his direction,
the wind taking
your voice away.
You holler his mama's name,
& he glances up at the red sky.
You can almost
touch what he's thinking,
reaching for his hand
across the river.
The noose pendulous
over his head,
you can feel him
grow inside you,
straining to hoist himself,
climbing a ladder
of air, your feet
in his shoes.

We Never Know

He danced with tall grass
for a moment, like he was swaying
with a woman. Our gun barrels
glowed white-hot.
When I got to him,
a blue halo of flies had already claimed him.
I pulled the crumbled photograph
from his fingers.
There's no other way
to say this: I fell in love.
The morning cleared again,
except for a distant mortar
& somewhere choppers taking off.
I slid the wallet into his pocket
& turned him over, so he wouldn't be
kissing the ground.

I know these are not light hearted poems but i still like them. I do like some happy poems. I'm not totally morbid. lol Anyway, if you want to check this guy and others you can do so here.