Listen to it go – fast, and faster still
So unreal and dizzying like jazz.
People talk like that you know – like they know –
For that quick second or so.
Did you hear, did you hear?
Chaos in the world like a swirl.
Yup, yeah, alright, and sure –
How many times must you sing that tune?
How many shakes and twists of my head
And lips – saying yeah, yes, uh huh, I know.
As giant a word as a growl – like a giant step –
A giant skip into empty arms, of God?
Why isn’t life much a musical, God?
About as abandoned as a call – to the police-
When you are considered a nobody in nobody’s home
Bessie Smith is bleeding, and bleeding –
And a call to the police – all lost –
She’s black and red and blue –
But her cry to God wasn’t the right sound
To these white gaping faces –
Who seem to like the sounds of twigs crackling with skin
In a fire, newsflash! Like a shout to God –
In an empty street, an empty home.
There’s much more to a music box
Than invisible notes, and words
And persons – not here but away.
It’s history – you know –
What we make like God.
