“Blue Note” A Poem by Dr. Tsitsi Jaji

A couple of weeks ago I attended a concert at Union Baptist Church in Philadelphia with my colleague Professor Tsitsi Jaji, a scholar, musician and poet.  An African American church founded in 1832, Union Baptist holds an amazing archive some of which is on display in the lower level.  There, Tsitsi and I shared our thoughts about black musical practice, history and how the creation of sonic beauty existed as an act of resistance in the era of slavery.  The next day she sent this poem to me as a response to the concert and to our ongoing conversations. I’m happy she granted us permission to share it with you.–GR, Editor-in-Chief    

Blue Note

                         For Guy Ramsey

Lord, make me an instrument.

I am no fool. Hard hands

made us tools.              If

I had a hammer—.

Where there are angels

watching over mine, make it

nighttime, the right time

to turn spiritual.

Lord, what balm I have is me.

What song I make is me.

Lord make me like you.

Sometimes I feel

like I’m almost gone. What’s

mine is patched and crooked:

Cowpeas, chicken feet, hog guts.

I’ll make this song bend over me.

I’ll make it wipe my brow, tender.

© Tsitsi Jaji
Tsitsi Jaji is a pianist, poet and author of Africa in Stereo: Modernism, Music and Pan-African Solidarity.