Let me sense the chaos
I will respond
with a song
why else
was I
born
says Jimi of the purple haze
through Kalamu ya Salaam

Now look, at those eyes
look at her arms
follow her little finger

I wonder what
Jean Toomer who could see
the Georgia Pike growing
out of a goat path
in Africa
would say about
Cassandra Wilson tonight

Perhaps Cassandra
does not even sing.
Here of course a voice there is
possessed by music like the rest of her
her whole body is song
her whole body has sensed the chaos

I say look at those eyes
look at her arms
follow her little finger
and understand perhaps why
you were born with ears