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I wined and dined a thousand exotic Joans and Janes In dusty dance halls, at debutante balls, On lonely country lanes. I fell in love forever, Twice every year or so. I wooed them sweetly, was theirs completely, But they always let me go.
Phenomenal Woman Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me. I walk into a room Just as cool as you please, And to a man, The fellows stand or Fall down on their knees. Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees. I say, It’s the fire in my eyes, And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist, And the joy in my feet. I’m a
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Young men sharp as mustard.
One day they hold you in the Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you Were the last raw egg in the world. Then They tighten up. Just a little. The First squeeze is nice. A quick hug. Soft into your defenselessness. A little More. The hurt begins. Wrench out a Smile that slides around the fear. When the Air disappears, Your mind pops, exploding fiercely, briefly, Like the head of a kitchen match. Shattered. It is your juice That runs down their legs. Staining their shoes. When the earth rights itself again, And taste tries to return to the tongue, Your body has slammed shut. Forever. No keys
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Shoulders sag, The pull of weighted needling. Arms drag, smacking wet in soft bone Sockets. Knees thaw, Their familiar magic lost. Old bend and Lock and bend forgot. Teeth rock in fetid gums.
Around and through these Cold phantasmatalities, He walks, insisting To the languid air, Activity, music, A generosity of graces.
People. Black and fast. Scattered Watermelon seeds on A summer street. Grinning in ritual, sassy in pomp. From a slow moving train They are precious. Stolen gems Unsaleable and dear.
bound for green lawns Double garages and sullen women in dreaded homes,
Her arms semaphore fat triangles, Pudgy hands bunched on layered hips Where bones idle under years of fatback And lima beans. Her jowls shiver in accusation Of crimes clichéd by Repetition.
A young body, light As winter sunshine,
Sun rays and sea waves And star and stone
We were entwined in red rings Of blood and loneliness before The first snows fell
into the warm embraces Of Sheba, Eve and Lilith.
The Memory Cotton rows crisscross the world And dead-tired nights of yearning Thunderbolts on leather strops And all my body burning Sugar cane reach up to God And every baby crying Shame the blanket of my night And all my days are dying
Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?
I rise I rise I rise.
Black like the hour of the night When your love turns and wriggles close to your side Black as the earth which has given birth To nations, and when all else is gone will abide. Bad as the storm that leaps raging from the heavens Bringing the welcome rain Bad as the sun burning orange hot at midday Lifting the waters again.
Dressing in purples and pinks and greens Exotic as rum and Cokes Living our lives with flash and style Ain’t we colorful folks? Now ain’t we bad? An’ ain’t we Black? An’ ain’t we Black? An’ ain’t we bad? An’ ain’t we bad? An’ ain’t we Black? An’ ain’t we fine?
I want to thank You, Lord For life and all that’s in it. Thank You for the day And for the hour and for the minute. I know many are gone, I’m still living on, I want to thank You.
Let me humbly say, Thank You for this day
