Acknowledgments
Grateful appreciation is offered to the editors and publishers of the following publications in which some of these poems (in different versions) have previously appeared or are forthcoming:
Chautauqua: "Swinging Cool." Reprinted by permission of Chautauqua. Copyright 2014, Lenard D. Moore.
Black American Literature Forum (now, African American Review): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
Raleigh: A Guide to North Carolina’s Capital, 2nd Edition (The Raleigh Fine Arts Society, 1992): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
Word and Witness: 100 Years of North Carolina Poetry (Carolina Academic Press, 1999): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
Kola: A Black Literary Magazine (Canada): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
NCArts Journal, Volume 15 Number 2 Winter 2001 (North Carolina Arts Council): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
Fives: Fifty Poems by Serbian and American Poets, A Bilingual Anthology (Contact Line and Cross-Cultural Communications, 2002): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
27 Views Of Raleigh: The Capital City in Prose & Poetry (Eno Publishers, 2013): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
Furious Flower: African American Poetry from the Black Arts Movement to the Present(University of Virginia Press, 2004): "Girl Tap Dancing," originally titled "Black Girl Tap Dancing."
Swaying in Wicked Grace: A Collection Commemorating 25 Years of Furious Flower (James Madison University, 2019): "At the Train Stop."
Poetry: An Introduction, 5th Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007): "Girl Tap Dancing," originally titled "Black Girl Tap Dancing."
The Bedford Introduction To Literature, 8th Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008): "Girl Tap Dancing," originally titled "Black Girl Tap Dancing."
The Compact Bedford Introduction To Literature, 8th Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009): "Girl Tap Dancing," originally titled "Black Girl Tap Dancing."
The Griot: "Sunday Evening."
All That Jazz: "No Reply," originally titled "After Receiving No Reply."
A Long And Winding Road: "No Reply," originally titled "After Receiving No Reply."
Raleigh News & Observer: "Zora Shango."
Frogpond (The Journal of the Haiku Society of America): "Jazz Suite."
Near South: "Carolina Miles."
Pembroke Magazine: "Nneena Freelon In Raleigh."
Connotation Press: An Online Artifact: "At The Train Stop."
Home Is Where: An Anthology of African American Poetry From The Carolinas (Hub City Press, 2011): "At The Train Stop."
A Long And Winding Road: "At The Train Stop."
Obsidian: Literature In The African Diaspora: "Ascension: John Coltrane" and "Cookin.' "
Spillway 22: "Thursday Night."
Broadside published in an edition of one hundred fifty for the author’s reading on March 21, 2000, at North Carolina Wesleyan College, with the title caption as From Word and Witness (Carolina Academic Press, 1999): "Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986."
A Note of Thanks
For reading these poems in manuscript form, thanks to my former professor Gerald W. Barrax, Carolyn Beard Whitlow, Jan Zaleski Hilton (WSWG Member), Robin M. Caudell, DeLana R.A. Dameron (CAAWC Member), Adrienne Christian (CAAWC Member), Crystal Simone Smith (CAAWC Member), Ebony Noelle Golden (CAAWC Member), Tom Lombardo, Carolyne Wright and Gina M. Streaty (CAAWC Member). Also, thanks to Jerry W. Ward, Jr., Carole Boston Weatherford (CAAWC Member), Sally Ann Drucker (WSWG Member) Opal J. Moore, Bruce Lader (WSWG Member) and Jill Gerard for reading some of these poems and offering advice on them. In addition, thanks to the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, the Washington Street Writers Group and Cornelius Eady, Toi Derricotte, E. Ethelbert Miller, Marilyn Nelson, Eugene B. Redmond and Everett Hoagland for encouragement and friendship. Thanks to Ce Rosenow and Allise Penning at Mountains & Rivers Press for their support of this book.
Swinging Cool
The bassist hugs
the bass, plunks it.
Ting, boom, ting boom—
the drummer beats
and booms. Saxophonist
weaves notes, oscillates, blows
and the pianist finger-dances
on the keys: ‘Swinging
at the Haven.’ Musicians spark
the sheet music stands
and angled microphones.
Blue backdrop.
Modulating that tempo,
they work the tune.
Drumsticks knocking time,
piano plucking our ears.
Bassman still hugging
the bass, straight sets—
walls thrumming—
steady as the spring moon
inciting the indigo sky.
Raleigh Jazz Festival, 1986
On Fayetteville Street Mall
a lean man bobs his head.
His sax shines—polished
copper in a sunbeam,
rhythm, a splendid rising
echoing against concrete.
The trumpeter inches
across the homemade platform;
his angled jaw swerves
and slacks.
His notes—perfect
geometry for dancing.
People snap their fingers;
