Читать книгу Magic City Gospel - Ashley M. Jones - Страница 11

ADDIE, CAROLE, CYNTHIA, DENISE

Amen, Alabama.

Bring in the Dixie sun,

cover us in the

delicate, glassy sunshine

erupting all over.

Find us, fevered, in the

glen, Jones Valley.

Have you seen the churches with windows stained?

Infinite steeples,

just turn any corner. Do you

know how we bleed, like Jesus?

Loud vibrato

melting the Sunday sky,

new mercies exploding, dynamite,

over our brown bodies.

Pretty little ones, dressed in lace, beneath

quivering old ones in hose and hats.

Remember how 16th Street shook,

symphony of fiery coughs

that turned our Birmingham to blood.

Under what God’s hand did we die like this?

Villains, victors, what did you see?

Wa wa watermelon, a chorus of coons,

X’s on the eyes, a grim cartoon?

Y’all come back now, hear?

Zippety do dah till the day you die.