James A Emanuel

Poet As Fisherman

I fish for words To say what I fish for, Half-catch sometimes. I have caught little pan fish flashing sunlight (yellow perch, crappies, blue-gills), Lighthearted reeled them in, Filed them on stringers on the

A Fool For Evergreen

A little bit of fool in me Hides behind my inmost tree And pops into the narrow path I walk blindfolded by my wrath Or shrunken by some twist of pain, Some hope that

Mahalia Jackson

” I sing the LORD’S songs “ (palms once tough to stay alive, Alarm clock on five). Cinnamon cheeks, Lord, Cornbread smile. SONGS feed your ribs When you’re hungry, chile. Washboard certainties, Soldierly grace,

Françoise And The Fruit Farmer

In town to sell his fruit, he saw her- Françoise in her summer slacks- Turning to him, coming back To feel the swelling plums, One held in each soft hand, breast-high, Above them her

The Treehouse

To every man His treehouse, A green splice in the humping years, Spartan with narrow cot And prickly door. To every man His twilight flash Of luminous recall of tiptoe years in leaf-stung flight;

Fishermen

When three, he fished these lakes, Curled sleeping on a lip of rock, Crib blankets tucked from ants and fishbone flies, Twitching as the strike of bass and snarling reel Uncoiled my shouts not

False Notions, Fears, And Other Things Of Wood

Repeatedly, that sturdy stump in me Bears up like stone, Beneath some ritual I see: The blinding axe Swings up, holds, That moment of its weightlessness Inscrutable Till I confirm the arm is mine;

The Young Ones, Flip Side

In tight pants, tight skirts, Stretched or squeezed, Youth hurts, Crammed in, bursting out, Flesh will sing And hide its doubt In nervous hips, hopping glance, Usurping rouge, Provoking stance. Put off, or put

Bojangles And Jo

Stairstep music: ups, Downs, Bill Robinson smiling, Jazzdancing the rounds. She raised champagne lips, Danced inside banana hips. All Paris wooed Jo. Banana panties, Perfumed belt, Jazz tatooing Lush ecstasies felt. Josephine, royal, Jewelling

" I'm A Jazz Singer, " She Replied

He dug what she said: Bright jellies, smooth marmalade Spread on warm brown bread. “Jazz” from drowsy lips Orchids lift to honeybees Floating on long sips. “Jazz”: quick fingerpops Pancake on a griddle-top Of

Jazzanatomy

EVERYTHING is jazz: Snails, jails, rails, tails, males, females, Snow-white cotton bales. Knee-bone, thigh, hip-bone. Jazz slips you percussion bone Classified “unknown.” Slick lizard rhythms, Cigar-smoke tunes, straight-gin sky Laced with double moons. Second-chance