DEAD RIVER BLUES FOR LANGSTON


River to river to river––
love and beauty and death
stretching for miles the skin of my heart
from high tide to low.
Thinking about America
and the best way to go.

That morning sun,
he always come up bleeding,
and sweet sugar moon,
she mostly go down screamin’.
Between a woman and the door
and the man beneath the floor
I keep sweatin’ bout America
and which way I should go.

Whereas my skin is black
my world is sho’ nuff white.
Hand jivin’ just to beat the blues
and waiting fast for the night.
It’s true I ponder as I wander,
but most times I think I know.
On the road to my taste of heaven
I don’t mind travelin’ slow.

Love and beauty and death—
river to river to river
lynching these dreams swinging naked in my heart,
screaming for mercy from high tide to low,
I think hard about America
and the best way for me to go.


(graphic of Langston Hughes by Winold Reiss)

© by Aberjhani
co-author of ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
and author of I MADE MY BOY OUT OF POETRY

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