Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PRIMA DONNA OF THE NEGRO JAZZ ORCHESTRA, by ELLEN COIT ELLIOTT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRIMA DONNA OF THE NEGRO JAZZ ORCHESTRA, by                    
First Line: I am the lemon-lily queen
Last Line: And my earrings tremble and shine.
Subject(s): Jazz; Music & Musicians; Singing & Singers; Songs


I am the lemon-lily queen.
Midnight crepe-myrtle is my hair,
My face curves down to my pointed chin
Betwixt my golden earrings like a warm seckle pear.

My tunic is a withered buff rose.
Palely my arms fall down.
The fiddles leap behind me, a thin flute blows,
Cr-r-racks a sudden trombone, then all notes drown.

In the drum's eager rustle. Juggling the sticks
Brown Joe tosses an aristocratic head --
Bow to right, smile to left, flourishing the tricks
Of some fancy colonel his grandmother never wed.

My walk is a poplar blown,
Gift of a moon-white dame
Whose star-white son left me besides
My golden color of shame.

The tom-tom is throbbing in my heart
And the orchestra's catching surges;
I sing you foolish airs --
That burst with shadowy dirges.

I voice my wild black mothers:
I drone them cool and low;
I croon the winds that blew and ceased
A thousand years ago.

I wail my captive fathers,
The violins complain;
I hone for a passionate wilderness
And the pelt of tropic rain.

I beat my hands and cry,
The 'cellos moan and quiver;
I fling my curse to a far-off sky
Over a jungled river.

I lift my arms and lean
To the white song's white embrace,
But I yearn to a thousand lovers
Of my black forgotten race.
* * * *
The sooty leader sways,
The violins flicker and hum,
The wood-winds speak, the cornet brays,
Joe is in a frenzy at the drum.

And I am the tea-rose queen,
Daughter of milk and wine;
Like a willow blown I bow and I bow,
And my earrings tremble and shine.





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