Henry Dumas

& # 8211 ; On-line Poems Essay, Assessment Paper

Take THIS RIVER

We switch up a spinal column of Earth

That bridges the river and the canal.

And the place a deceasing white log, finger-like,

Floating off the monetary establishment, claws on the incline,

We stumble, and we chortle.

We gradual beneath the Moon & # 8217 ; s oculus ;

Near the radiance of the river & # 8217 ; s blood face,

The canal & # 8217 ; s head overlaying of underbrush train matches frost,

And this historic watery cicatrix retains

The motionless cryings of labor forces with troubled liquors.

For like your entire Earth,

This land of mine is soaked & # 8230 ; .

Shadows collectively,

We fall on the grass with out a phrase.

We had run this faraway from the town.

We had taken the bony class, bouldery and slim,

He taking, I following.

Our breath watercourse into October

As a result of the air current sucks our perspiration and a foliage & # 8230 ;

“ Now we now have come a protracted prolonged technique, mahn. ”

He components over the river

The place it bends west, so E,

And leaves our sight.

“ I assume now we now have, ” I pant. “ I can hear

My offended musculuss chatting with my castanetss. ”

And we chortle.

The goon of darkish is coming.

Up the river, down the river

The sky and darkish buss between the air current.

“ You acknowledge, ” Ben says, “ that’s the place

I launched Evelyn & # 8230 ; .

Look. We sat on that log

And watched a river egret

Till it flew off with the eventide.

“ Nevertheless mahn, she is a amusing miss, Aiee!

Nevertheless she seems like me Jamaica grownup female & # 8230 ; .

Nevertheless she asks me all the inquiries, mahn.

I & # 8217 ; m touring to lose her mahn, Aiee!

“ Nevertheless I am going to. . . Ewie. Ewie I such as you,

Nevertheless I do Ewie. . . Ewie. . . , ” he says

And blows a buss into the air current.

Broken shadows upon the canal

Kind and fuzz, as foliages shudder as quickly as additional & # 8230 ; as quickly as additional

“ State me this, Ben, ” I say.

“ Do you are eager on American misss?

You acknowledge, do most Jamaicans

Understand this state? ”

We about chortle. Our perspiration is gone.

He whispers “ Aiee ” on a protracted low breath

And we flip full circle to the river,

Our dorsums to the unsighted canal.

“ Nevertheless I & # 8217 ; m non most Jamaicans & # 8230 ; .

I & # 8217 ; m merely Ben, and tomorrow I & # 8217 ; ll be gone,

And & # 8230 ; Ewie, I such as you & # 8230 ; .

Aiee! My grownup female, how can I such as you? ”

Blurred pictures upon the river

Flow into collectively and we’re at that place & # 8230 ; .

“ What did she inquire you? ” I say.

“ Each half and nil, presumably.

Nevertheless I couldn & # 8217 ; t state her all. ”

We about chortle. “ & # 8217 ; Set off I

Don & # 8217 ; t cognize all of it, mahn.

“ Look, see over at that place & # 8230 ; .

We walked down from there

The place the park ends

And the canal Begins

The place that ruddy shale stone

Down the incline at that place. . . see?

Sits itself up like a decide,

We foremost contact our custodies. . .

And up floats this log,

Not throughout the river

Nevertheless throughout the canal there

And it & # 8217 ; s slimy and former

And I kick it once more. . .

And mahn, she does excessively.

Then she asks me:

& # 8216 ; Bennie, if I cry

When you depart would you

Keep in mind me additional? & # 8217 ;

Aiee! She & # 8217 ; s a pure goddess!

And he or she asks me:

& # 8216 ; Bennie, when you contemplate Jamaica

Can you visualize me at that place? & # 8217 ;

And whereas she & # 8217 ; s stating this,

She & # 8217 ; s making for the river

Current like she & # 8217 ; s experiencing its pulsation.

She asks me:

& # 8216 ; Bennie, America means one factor to you?

In all probability our meeting, our love? has

One factor to make with America,

Similar to the river? Do you cognize Bennie? & # 8217 ;

Aiee, Aiee, mahn I inform you

She may do me get married. . .

Aiee! Ewie, Jamaica. . . Moon!

And the best way can I state one thing?

I inform her:

& # 8216 ; Africa, someplace is Africa.

Make you understand, & # 8217 ; I say to her,

And he or she take a look at me with the Moon,

And I hear the

air current and the foliages

And we do non chortle. . .

We’re so near now no air current between us. . .

I say to her:

& # 8216 ; Ewie, I do non cognize America

Moreover presumably in my cryings & # 8230 ; .

In all probability as soon as I look out from Jamaica

Usually, on the ocean H2O & # 8230 ; .

In all probability so I do know this state & # 8230 ; .

Nevertheless I do know that we, we Ewie & # 8230 ; .

I do know that this river goes and goes.

She takes me to the ocean,

The female guardian of H2O

And so I am dwelling. & # 8217 ;

And he or she tells me she is conscious of

By the silence in her eyes.

I attain our custodies as quickly as additional down

And bathe them at nighttime current

And I say: & # 8216 ; Take this river, Ewie & # 8230 ; . & # 8217 ;

Aiee, air current spherical us, Aiee my God!

Merely the darkish is conscious of how we kiss. ”

He stands up.

A raincloud crusing upon a leak, birrs

Inside the fleeting embracing of our reminiscences & # 8230 ; .

“ Let & # 8217 ; s tally, ” I say, “ and warmth these castanetss. ”

Nevertheless he trots a spot, so stops,

his Jamaica sky.

“ Let & # 8217 ; s run the prolonged route West

Down the river route, ” I say,

“ And I & # 8217 ; ll state you of my grownup female & # 8230 ; .Aiee. ”

We chortle, nevertheless we stop.

And so, up the spiny ridge

We race by the use of the timber

Like spirited fingers of frigid air.

We switch in the direction of some blurred

Mechanical seen radiation edged like an egret

And swallowed by the darkish.

Into this land of mine.

And the air current is chilly, a goad

Finger at our dorsums.

The nonetheless Earth. Except for us.

And from behind that ebon cloak,

The Moon observes & # 8230 ; .

And we do non particular pleasure

And we do non shout, And the place the land inclines,

We take the river & # 8230 ; .

Nevertheless we do non falter,

We do non chortle,

We do non shout,

And we do non halt & # 8230 ; .

On-line Beginning: hypertext swap protocol: //www2.mdcc.edu/north/asili/volii_3/nu00031.htm

Copyright? Loretta Dumas and Eugene Redmond, 1989/99

Funk

The great God Shango throughout the African sea

reached down with palm oil and oozed out me.

On-line Beginning: hypertext swap protocol: //www2.mdcc.edu/north/asili/volii_3/nu00031.htm

Copyright? Loretta Dumas and Eugene Redmond, 1989/99

Pea

Peas throughout the cod

peas in my intestine

peas throughout the abdomen axial rotation

making the prance.

Blackeyes over

blackeyes down

blackeyes browneyes touring to metropolis

On-line Beginning: hypertext swap protocol: //www2.mdcc.edu/north/asili/volii_3/nu00031.htm

Copyright? Loretta Dumas and Eugene Redmond, 1989/99

Yam

I made a yamship for my abdomen with my spoon

and sweet siting jelly bread saved me til midday.

On-line Beginning: hypertext swap protocol: //www2.mdcc.edu/north/asili/volii_3/nu00031.htm

Copyright? Loretta Dumas and Eugene Redmond, 1989/99

BROWN SOUNDS

brown sound cocoa

reminiscences

like the first clip

you observed grapes

and tasted them

and found the colour

blue

brown sound resolve milk

reverberations

like the first clip

you observed bees

and tasted gold

and found the honey

lingua

brown sound Africa

pulsations

like the first clip

you exploded between legs

and heard membranophones

and found the message

of beats love

brown sound United States

pulsations plus forcing

down timber

like the first clip

you observed that wild brainsick Equus caballus

siting by the use of painted comeuppances

and likewise you found the expansive canon

ruddy female guardian

brown sound

black lineation

like the first clip

like the first clip

the first clip

is the ultimate clip

like that

On-line Beginning: hypertext swap protocol: //www2.mdcc.edu/north/asili/volii_3/nu00031.htm

Copyright? Loretta Dumas and Eugene Redmond, 1989/99

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