Michael Harper
Tatum
I have recovered from your blindness
so fast your arpeggios
the world of Toledo is in slow motion
for you are holding back
from all your classical training
the image of Fats Waller frozen
in the blows that forced darkness
into cranial blows irreversible
you are your own orchestra
soft periods in your program
hard as the massage of your countrymen
“please return safely to your kin”
for you are a patriot
no matter discrimination
the virulent embers classical
in your repertoire: Columbus
every enemy’s empathy concerto
every friend a suite sonata
they say you loved trains
(gondolas locomotives a fuel line)
when you died in 1956
a whole cavalcade came with you
Robinson retired
Mays carrying his team
your love of baseball
in the signs missed and missing
