PhillySound: new poetry

Frank Sherlock's poem is in Tuesday's Commentary section of the Philadelphia Inquirer!
For some reason, the editors cut the subtitle. But here it is in its original form.
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Refinery Deal Pays Off
(a Letter to New Orleans for New Year’s Eve)


There are the dead & those who talk to the dead
         through song    The parade is almost here &

this is an American mirror    Squint hard
    to see the Ninth Ward see Two Street    America

Cities are mothers that never stop raising
                   as long as the rhythms continue

And I will raise them up    And I will raise them up
And I will ra-ai-se them up on the last day

         Bayou Eagle feathers sewn into headdresses
keep the five-fifths citizen beat & burning

crude in the purified cold will be a dance called
         the dirty phoenix    This is American music

    A new year is coming with us    a dedication
Rebirth is playing our song    Don’t let them steal you

We come to party we come to remember
       We come to party & will not let you die

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Thanks Frank for a great poem!

posted by CAConrad