Go-
Round
On this merry-go-round,
Mister, cause I want to ride?
Down South where I come from
White and colored
Can't sit side by side.
Down South on the train
There's a Jim Crow car.
On the bus we're put in the back ---
But there ain't no back
To a merry-go-round!
Where's the horse
For a kid that's black?
Fortune Teller
Never seen you before ---
And tell you more than
You'd want to know.
She could tell you about love,
And money, and such.
And she wouldn't
Charge you much.
A fellow came one day.
Madam took him in.
She treated him like
He was her kin.
Gave him money to gamble.
She gave him bread,
And let him sleep in her
Walnut bed.
Friends tried to tell her
Dave meant her no good.
Looks like she could've knowed it
If she only would.
He mistreated her terrible,
Beat her up bad.
Then went off and left her
Stole all she had.
She tried to find out
What road he took.
There wasn't a trace
No way she looked.
That woman who could foresee
What your future meant,
Couldn't tell, to save her,
Where Dave went.
Player
With the trumpet at his lips
Has dark moons of weariness
Beneath his eyes
Where the smoldering memory
Of slave ships
Blazed to the crack of whips
About his thighs.
The Negro
With the trumpet at his lips
Has a head of vibrant hair
Tamed down,
Patent-leathered now
Until it gleams
Like jet ---
Were jet a crown.
The music
From the trumpet at his lips
Is honey
Mixed with liquid fire.
The rhythm
From the trumpet at his lips
Is ecstasy
Distilled from old desire ---
Desire
That is longing for the moon
Where the moonlight's but a spotlight
In his eyes,
Desire
That is longing for the sea
Where the sea's a bar-glass
Sucker size.
The Negro
With the trumpet at his lips
Whose jacket
Has a fine one-button roll,
Does not know
Upon what riff the music slips
Its hypodermic needle
To his soul ---
But softly
As the tune comes from his throat
Trouble
Mellows to a golden note.
©2004 Vintage Books