ChickenBones: A Journal

for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes

   

Home  Visit Our Store (Books, DVDs, Music, and more)

Google
 

 

 He left us with horn samples / a funky dance / and a picture of him
bending with the music / never breaking in the / madness of the rhythm

 

 

 

Duet for The Godfather

By Wordslanger

James Joseph Brown Jr.
May 3, 1938- December 25, 2006

Lay down the red cape
softly for the last time
and Please, Please
tell God, Hold On
cuz, he’s Coming
make room in the
Celestial band
to receive
The Godfather of Soul
He’s on the Good Foot
got a whole New Bag
He left us with horn samples
a funky dance
and a picture of him
bending with the music
never breaking in the
madness of the rhythm
Slide and bop on home
to God Soul Brother No. 1


J B
1939-2006-forever

listen for him in the thunder
moving from Carolina woods
cross the Georgia state line
listen for the horn in the wind
of the continuum and know
he lives in our funk
still shapin the bounce
Yeah boy
look for him on the dance floor
a century from now
moving in the rhythm
like he jus been
restin in the ocean
when ya find him
slidin cross a stage
sweat on his brow
you will know
soul don’t die
it multiplies.


Wordslanger 2006

posted 2 January 2007

*   *   *   *   *

If you like this remembrance consider making a donation

Ayodele Nzinga is a dramatist, arts lecturer and performance poet living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the Artistic Director of The Lower Bottom Playaz and The Sister Thea Bowman Memorial Theater in West Oakland. She is a force to be reckoned with on the West Coast spoken word circuit. Well known for her take no prisoners style as the WordSlanger she is loved by vets and admired by young poets. She is affiliated with Marvin X’s Recovery Theater.  She holds an MA and an MFA in Writing and Consciousness. She is currently a candidate for PhD at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco CA.

*   *   *   *   *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home  Marvin X Table   Tributes Obituaries Remembrances

Related files:   Duet for The Godfather (Wordslanger)  Blessings Are Due  (Ayodele Nzinga)  Beyond Religion toward Spirituality  Leonard Peltier: Letter to a Relative

 Beyond Religion Toward Spirituality (More Reviews)  James Brown -- Messing with the Blues   Long Live the Kings of Black Entertainment