Harlem
- Harlemfor james p. johnson, willie “the lion” smith, luckie roberts, & fats waller
“sensational sonny” greer from jersey gonna take them washingtonians to harlem show the blessed boy what the tough east coast piano school can do for him get him roasted by ragtime’s righteous roll call in all night jam sessions full of whiskey cigarettes and black as night bawdy house music
these washingtonians stagger around from place to place like the new music they play, bellies never full, hearts real hungry, they in search of an authentic street sound yelling loud and fierce these days from the big easy
after a few months of improvising for meals they are back on the train to washington [End Page 153] begging for the smell and taste of momma daisy’s best biscuits and some deep fried mackerel, the boy who paints signs gonna sop his biscuits up with gravy pretend it is that stride style he still perfecting . . .
Brian Gilmore is an attorney who lives and works in Washington, DC. Elvis Presley Is Alive and Well and Living in Harlem, his first volume of poems, was published by Third World Press (Chicago) in 1993. He has also published poems and essays in a number of anthologies and periodicals, including Soulfires, In Search of Color Everywhere, Obsidian II, and Nation.
