“Sing to the Lord a New Song”
for Patrice Quinn singing “Lesanu”

1
exalted hands lift
in glory your voice, a praise
raptured to the sky

2
exalted hands lift
your voice, a praise of glory
raptured to the sky

for Nina ‘66

witness how I dance
the bones/ conjure life into
what you thought you killed

for Abbey

Abbey, sing us US
and all the “ugly” we know
to be beautiful

for Nancy

for us who try to
gather the sun for men who
want to chase the moon

for Art & Donald

sit in the silence
of yourself/ then you will know
where it all went wrong

for the Wolf

my woman rests her
head in the gold embers of
another man’s dreams

for Nina ‘67

“lawdy, lawdy momma
tell me what you gonna do?”

gonna get my gun
read somethin’ in my bible
then let God decide

for Sun Ra

space is the place were
i go to become myself
to come back to you

for Duke

with 88 keys
i chisel shape into sound
in image of me

for Maulawi

1
at the edge of dawn
my hungry hands inch towards you
in search of known land

2
in search of known land
my hungry hands inch towards you
at the edge of dawn