Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Beyond category


If I remember Ellington,
with whom this expression
is very fondly associated,
it's Billy Strayhorn who
comes to mind; if I honor
Martin Luther King, Jr, 
I'm not forgetting Bayard
Rustin; when I was a boy,
James Baldwin was writing
stories I needed to hear.

I'm glad as hell, I lived
in my time with such men.





   And to see,
   the weather
   fall upon a
   man's faith
   without any
   consequence
   it expects,
   has been to
   acquire it. 
   We're here.
   
   










   




















Damon Winter
  Barack Obama
  Glen Allen, Virginia
  October, 2008
The New York Times, 2008©

Giuseppe Verdi
Nabucco
  III, ii
  Va' pensiero
1841-42









   

No comments:

Post a Comment