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my grandmother’s violin · 145 Voice Lesson Cimarron. Cimarron. Remember to roll the r’s (Think of the sound of galloping mustangs on a Nevada plain) Cimarron (or the pound of buffalo hooves) Cimarron (or your grandma’s mules broken loose last year) Maroon. Maroon. Breathe in deep. Say it like a warrior hurling her spear through the air. Maroon. (Now think of bloodhounds, armed men at your heels) Maroon (or Nanny’s boiling cauldron set to catch them) Maroon (or women wearing the teeth of white soldiers around their ankles.) Maroon. Maroon. Pronounce the “a” soft like the “a” in “alone.” That’s right, Marooned (Imagine dangling from an orange tree blindfolded—stockings from someone’s clothesline noosed around your neck) Marooned (or the one dollar to your name, the eviction notice taped to the door) Marooned (think of a cold, soundproof room.) Maroon. Maroon. Say it slow like a rich, full thing to the mouth. Maroon. (Remember yourself six years old, talking sassy in your mother’s dark lipstick) Maroon (or Zora’s lips mouthing “just watch me,” her felt hat tilted to the side of her head) Maroon (or all those women’s mouths in Ebenezer choir, Free at Last, singing for the fire locked up in their bones.) Maroon. Maroon. Here’s your chance now, follow the instinct of your tongue and say it your way, Maroon. Put on that hat you wear when you’re all stirred up and need to have a word or two. 146 . chapter 7 Maroon Hurl your spear if you like, Or change the accent on the “a” perhaps something wide, free like the “a” in gallop Maroon Maroon (Hear the call of an old abeng?) Maroon Say it Say it rich Say it full (The twitch near your ear is only the remembrance of thunder.) Maroon Breathe in deep Maroon (This dust kicked up on the plain is sweet as nutmeg!) Maroon Say it! Maroon (Listen to the feet of summer rain behind you) Say it strong Say it now Break loose speckled horse, and take yourself back. Marcia Douglas, now a recognized writer, wrote this poem for a class booklet during her days as a graduate student at Binghamton University. ...

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