Cherry Pie
for D.B.A.

i.
show you dese if I am able
missing from the Central Bank again

you'een loyal to art, to this aspect
loyal to me so I'll attach you
to what I am loyal to, make you loyal too
to these ideas, to visual art

introduce you to people
I shake hands with, women I embrace

not until I'm home, my shirt on a hanger
in my closet, do I realize
that I'd been painted on, powdered on

sullied by these lovely, elegant women
whom I'd hugged and a shirt
I want to wear again, I cannot

ii.
what I gur tell you ‘bout der rest of dese
about a female in red dress
only just fitting it, not worn it out yet

dress just taken down from hanging up
she upon strings, from strings, hanging also

a number of figures, hanging from strings

between living and not living
between being and not being

iii.
going to have to get to the cathedral
get out of here, out of where
an amazing audience is assembled
art upon walls, to view, to buy

iv.
shit, time to shove off
ten minutes to get to the next stop

I've not had wine nor water
but I am fine
just thirst for you as usual
and drunk on you at once

v.
cherries galore
you still have yours, my darling

you told me recently that you do
and I believe, no need to doubt

though it does contradict
what you said was done to you
before

is oral sex not sex
have you your cherry still
after that has been eaten
been swallowed

or has it not been swallowed
is it lodged still in a throat
like Adam's apple

vi.
faith-affecting singing
faith-affecting songs

unprepared to leave you
like you were met
must leave you changed

songs like this, singing like this
how many in here happy as me
affected like me, weeping like me
have the sniffles like me

in response to piano notes
bright light of these

what precious metals in these voices
light glinting off steel
and gold and brass and silver

I is a instrument too
breath of life, through me passing
I write while it lasts

the singers are the music
while the music shall last

we listening are the music too
transpiring, transforming us

spirit of the spirituals
quickening us, makes a note of us

vii.
want it to go on and on
until time ends

negro spiritual
following negro spiritual

I know though that this will end
this joy, this sea of songs
up against a shore
where all waves end

hope for a similar end
a similar ending, up against rocks

with a splash, with the audience
applauding appreciation
successfully enough
to be granted, permitted
an added song, an encore

as if one or two more
could suffice for the desire
for this state of freedom

stirred up amid slavery
stirring still, to be unending
will these songs stir always

how proud to be part of
to belong to, legacy such as this
from which these spirituals spring
of which these singers sing

viii.
the world's a nicer place
when you're in love
when you have somebody
when you belong
when you're not alone

the world's a nicer place
when you have
a little girl to love
a little girl who loves you

and will not let you go
or let you drop or drop dead

there are so many
who won’t mind
if you lived or died

she'd cry if I died
I'd die if she did


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
Written between
7:15 p.m. and 10:07 p.m.
on Friday, April 16, 2010