"Emancipate us from mental slavery..."

— Bob Marley (Redemtion Song)

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

You

Salvador Dali

see our history's golden man

Christopher Columbus

in your Andalusia way

as robust young boy

perhaps teenaged

as one who pulls his big bellied ship

toward us from ocean's edge

masts      banners      swords      clouds

crucifixes      shadows      sails

monks      trapeze artists
Your

huge canvas wall-sized

brings home to Florida

in this museum created

in your name for you

the wishes of those monarchs

the youngish Ferdinand

his lovely Isabella

your own country

the infant Spain
He

Columbus not old

enough to shave

barefoot and shirtless

not yet Great Admiral

of the Ocean

now drags ashore

the Old World's wettest dreams

of church

of colony

of empire

that bid us marvel

at our own demise


Blue Note Belly Blues — A Call and Response Poem

You came

halfway

round

the world

in the belly

of a ship

in the belly

of a slave

in the belly

of the ocean
                        Think About It
in the belly

of a drum

in the belly

of a calabash

in the belly

of a dance

in the belly

of a shout

bathed in

palm oil
                        Think About It
in the belly

of a shuffle

in the belly

of a moan

in the belly

of a grin

in the belly

of a storm
                        Think About It
in the belly

of a savanna

in the belly

of the wind

in the belly

of the tides
                        Think About It
Say Baby

let's you & me

bust free

ride

this blue blue note

into Freedom's belly

                        Think About It
This blue note

North Star

gotta get outah here blue note

this Black Bottom blue note

this moaning low speaking low

blue note

this jazz back juke joint

saxophone blue note
                        Think About It
This high stepping 2nd line

blue      blue      blue note

this high flying Take me

to the Moon

blue note
                        Think About It
This Baby Baby Baby

what have I done

to be so black & blue

blue blue note

let's kick back

three ways to Sunday

blue note

blue note

blue note
                        Think About It
Baby

let's turn ourselves inside out

ride Freedom's blue
 
blue note

and fly away

fly away Baby
                        Think About It

                        Think About It


Ancestors

She drew her first basket

on its side she made a mask

w/ eyes and nose

on its top she made a mouth

slightly open

she thought
She invited some friends

to see the basket
Inside its curved belly

they saw

a flag w/ zebra marks

the curved teeth of a lion

gold      elegant      huge

rows of elephant tusks

a crocodile napping
They heard a spirit voice

calling all their names
They struggled to breathe

they tried to speak

they wanted to dance
(for Nisi)
JT Stewart is the Seattle Review of Books Poet in Residence for February. Previously: "Invocation", "FOLKS: 'Many Rivers to Cross'", and "SISTAHS — How We Got Ovah"


    Citations & notes. All poems originally Published in JT Stewart's Promised Lands: Poems from the sovereign of dishpan sonnets (Lamaya Press, 2010 (3rd edition).




    "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus" — I had seen lots of Salvador work in New York City but nothing like this oil-on-canvas that takes up an entire wall in the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL. The poem took ten years to write. Why? Let's call the reasons: interviews with painter friends / research - and brooding!


    "Blue Note Belly Blues — A Call & Call and Response - an integral part of African-                America oral traditions. Performed March 2013 at Hugo House (Seattle) - 100 Thousand Poets for Change: A Global Event Bringing Poets Together in 115 Countries. 


    "Ancestors" — This poem dedicated to Nisi Shawl (the amazing writer / scholar} who introduced me to the worlds of border crossing poetry & feminism via Rose Lemberg.