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Malcolm In Cairo
Cast from Elijah's idling ship,
(Sails fraying from envy --
Creation's oldest storm)You are now, like Johnny Hodges
in the early 1950s, a solo act.You even have a small, white following.
Two unsmiling men with cameras,
trailing you on the crowded streets;Uncle Sam's shadow, you chuckle to yourself,
is even wider than the pinstripes on his slacks.You film them, fellow Muslims,
the weathered, majestic Sphinx.The agents wait outside the mosque --
Where, when salat begins --Arabic prayers,
Body facing East,Forehead down
like a ballad tempo,You are lost as a third-tier saxophonist
at an Ellington audition.But thanks be to Allah,
these soul songs will come in time.
Reuben Jackson
12/26/02 © copyright[["im sending this because of its musical references to malcolm x's pre-conversion past . . . happy . . . happy" . . . rj]]
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