Poem-A-Day: Motown Philly Back Again by Harmony Holiday

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Motown Philly Back Again by Harmony Holiday   We're all pagans and shamans and clap your hands     now we won't stop the beat   We believe in divine healing and we hate to see that       evening sun go down    We know when the sight of our women dressed in white    each ritual night, is touching, hypnotizes   The animals blush and split for us as revival, as revealed    to themselves   These are triumphant women.   Even Sister Fame hiding out in the alley turning tricks    and singing verses from the undid scripture, is touching   Thank you jesus, thank you jesus, that you jesus, baby,    is that you, she mutters up high between rocks    and lace---his eagerness---it was all night long   Sometimes he'd interrupt a recording session to tell us    about his early Motown days or expand on his views of    Heaven and Hell   One time he was saying how important it was to love    one's father.   Do you love yours? I asked him   Why don't you tell him   Why don't you tell your father, he said   I will if you do   You go first   Copyright © 2013 by Harmony Holiday. Used with permission of the author. About this Poem:   "'Motown Philly Back Again' is a meditation on some of the myths and legends that pervade the recording industry. It includes some catachresis between Marvin Gaye and myself that helps me explore some nuances of paternity as I've experienced it within the context of black culture. The many hyperlinks embedded in the text explicate more of the associative registers of the poem, which is part of a larger series of meditations on crossings between rituals of worship/devotion, rituals of violence, and rituals of entertainment as they converge and diverge in the role of the arts in the lives of black Americans and also all Americans. That series is called 'Great Day in the Morning' and will be available as a chapbook this year."   Harmony Holiday Poetry by Holiday Negro League Baseball Poem-A-Day launched in 2006 and features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Browse the Poem-A-Day archive. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem In Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org. February 7, 2013    Harmony Holiday is the author of Negro League Baseball (Fence Books, 2011), which won the Motherwell Prize. She lives in New York City and is an instructor of dance and writing courses. Related Poems Liner Notes to an Imaginary Playlist by Terrance Hayes Two Pages, 122 Words on Music and Dance by John Cage Black Nikes by Harryette Mullen

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