Miss H in the City
by Nii Ayikwei Parkes with props to the original lyricists who inspired the collage
I
- I arrive in the city at dawn, just before sunrise, step
- onto shore with hope bright in my eyes. This is
- a new start; new dreams away from the hearts I broke;
- excitement’s got my heart racing like a hummingbird
- pacing. I try to be cool and patient, but it’s harder than
- the calculus of quantum leaping. See I’m a small city
- boy with big city dreams, I’ve dreamt of this existence
- amidst the harbour lights; ships coming and going
- like ghosts, dropping – like flies – new dreamers
- who prayed for wings. Now I take it all in; its five
- dimensions, its six senses. I feel the seven firmaments’
- force and hold myself back from screaming. I sit
- outside myself, observe from a bird’s eye view, a boy
- descending into this fantastic beautiful mess. I wrestle
- with words and heartbeats seeking the phrase to express
- the moment, but the usual is no longer suitable. So
- I rest my eyes on a purple bud bursting into a high-five
- flower, its reflection shimmering on tranquil waters
- like something greater than depth, something eternal.
II
- And soon there is a girl; filled with magic
- and strife and scaled just right. A smile
- like a spear, on point and timed to perfection.
- I lose myself in it, hear a distant bass ride
- out like an ancient mating call. The duration’s
- infinite – enough time for me to ponder sugar,
- spice, and other things she might be made of.
- I feel my flesh burn, my cell walls disintegrate
- to allow me to absorb her essence. Her head is
- wrapped but her aura peeks out at the back.
- The big city’s first riddle and I have no answers.
- It’s too loud to think; maybe my dreams are
- larger than my hands can grasp. I realise now
- the streets are too shrill to ever hear freedom
- sing, too crammed for love to grow wings.
- A new moon rides high in the metro’s fading
- crown; across the way the ancient is manifest
- in knife fights. I take a deep city breath, watch
- my broken dreams fly to where waters fall
- as she walks away – a devil in a blue dress,
- a beast in a blue Chrysler, karma coming back
- hard. My chest heaves against the evening’s
- flesh. I sigh, watch the city lights throb
- against a purple flower’s reflection, hope
- that from this night a sweet dawn will come.
5 comments:
Hmmmm... is the second one Blackstar? I'm probably way off...
Do you mean section I line 2 or just section II. They are actually each from at least three songs/artists.
I got right to the end, disappointed in myself that I could not recognise a single line. And then, 2 line 25. My heart racing, I knew, that's Lauryn Hill, not one of the LOST ONES but one that I have found. That base twanging though my head I pulled out my phone to hear it for real...only to find that I am still lost.
But I know that even when you're gone you can still be reborn
And, from the night can arrive the sweet dawn...you might win some but I just lost one.
@ Ngozi, you're absolutely right L Boogie's Lost Ones - third verse. There's actually another line that's inspired/derived from that song - maybe you spotted that too? It's sitting close to a line from Nas :)
Contributions from the famous Musa Okwonga on my facebook note:
Poem !, lines 10-11: that's from "Mathematics" by Mos Def!
"five dimensions...six senses...seven firmaments’"
Braaaappppp!
Poem 1, lines 4-5: Mos Def, “Miss Fat Booty”
Poem 2, lines 4-5: the hook from “Respiration”
Poem 2, line 16: Mos Def, “Respiration”
and he's SO right! :)
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