March 6th was Shirley’s birthday and I wonder what an 85-year-old Shirley would say about the sociopolitical environment we are struggling in today? Her heart would be heavy, but she’d be hoppin’ mad . . . at the TV.
In true Shirley form, CNN would be on 24/7 and in full volume. She’d be mad that Roland Martin and Joy Reid were bounced off of mainstream media, and would be frustrated trying to find Roland online! She’d be trying to conjure up some made-up Shirley Juju and put some haints on the orange monster. She’d be trying to get to New York City to get on a stage and speak to the world or get to DC to have my older sister, Hope aka Tammy, or her dear friend Rudy drive her to the White House to kick Trump’s ass. Shirley would be worried about her grandkids— Noelle, Jullian, Jordan, and Bella, and her great-granddaughter, Monroe, named after her beloved father—and what this world is gonna be. She’d be frantically going through her papers—Lawd have mercy all her papers! And then she’d find IT . . . the perfect words she wrote so many years ago that still speak life, speak truth, speak power.
Happy Birthday, Mama!
The Second Coming
in memory of James Baldwin
You warned us Jimmy
You never spoke a word of lie
the fire next / time
This ugly is knee / deep
All the dry-bones
The spiritsongs
Dusted over
Watered down
But not dead
You warned us Jimmy
The windreepers will come back
Unearthed
The rain-weepers have nomore tears
The seeds handsown have comeback bloody
There is no harvest
You warned us Jimmy
Warned us w / the word
You taught us how to dance with the rage
That it is not in the wrestle or the fight
But the fire and the dance
The firedance, the holy dance
The footstomper’s feet burning
Purifying and getting / ready dance
the fire next / time
You warned us Jimmy
Of the second commin
But we got to busy / too hi
Too busy
W / these worrisome bluz for mr. charlie
Too busy
On the imitation of this nation
Too hi
Mistaking the chaos above our head for the music
We didn’t hear the singing stop — change key
And turn to talking
We got too busy / too high
We got too busy / to hi
~“The Second Coming” is from Brassbones & Rainbows (2013) by Shirley Bradley LeFlore
