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  • Beyond Bourbon St.
  • Janice Lowe (bio)

I.

the wheelchair man has no breath to hold sax as long as he does he does not need yoga breathing for this or the tao of singing he is the source of air of wind desire i swirl through his eyes rest in the horn’s bell drink coltrane spit/ornette bile fed by jamesian grooves near a wide brown stretch of infamous river that’s no gut he’s pregnant with pennies secrets of the mississippi

II.

pennies nickles mostly dollars float through waves of cannonball fountains of rap old school hard bop funk breakdancers have a historical moment a head braking for amazingly late tourists and their coins

III.

the human mannequin refuses to dance on cue his eyes are popped and still [End Page 529] he is a fading tux on tree brown skin he is a tree of golden gray as still as the music is funky

IV.

boys ask for money before the tapping begins how much you gonna give me? how much you gonna give me? we ain’t buckwheat this ain’t entertainment tonight

V.

Pampy’s is a love gas station surrounded by dying palms Pampy’s is a doctor’s office of dance clubs Pampy’s is a balmy night and just enough wind to ease the sweat people two-step through back room walls / check out the always arriving black & tans the night the down low blues grover & sade push everybody into the gumbo a stirring up even the men ain’t too pretty to acknowledge getting down politely inside the polyfunk waltz     of shoulders hand torso

hips become wishing stumps bones—faces

a dish of pennies is just out of sight candles shadow the jesus drum spirits greet the four corners

Janice Lowe

Janice Lowe teaches creative writing workshops in libraries and schools throughout New York City. Her poems have appeared in In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers and Callaloo, in which she has made her third appearance. She is not only a poet but also a playwright and a composer of music.

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