Ode for Donny Hathaway
and then there are the one-hit zombies
cursed to an eternity of Monday nights
who runs our music does not make it
controls manufacture and marketing of rhythm
schemes on and fixes the charts. it’s polyphonic
from the dark of the chitlin to solid gold dawn
doublecrossed over
a love come down
after the plunge
sloshing around in limbo
that too sweet gospel splash
Wanda Coleman, “Ode for Donny Hathaway” from Hand Dance. Copyright © 1992 by Wanda Coleman. Reprinted by permission of Wanda Coleman.
Source:
Hand Dance
(Black Sparrow Press, 1992)
