ELLINGTON
The Dukes patrician mother passed in May of nineteen thirty-five. His calling, even then, was cast,
but composing took a nosedive. He filled her hearse with flowers, sorrowing in his solitude. He bore a battleground of powers. Then came, In a Sentimental Mood. Its dancers took the tune from there,
and spread its spell from coast to coast, stepping to it with such style, such flair that many c1ubbers could but toast. My folks did the fox-trot to his band, in Depression-dizzy Dallas, Deep Ellum, 1 where colored folks could stand. Saw his show in Tyler’s Palace. 2 Ghost trains would trumpet past our home, passing its porch with Pullman cars that carried white folks to and from towns with names like Texarkana. Those evening trains were lit like stars ... all the way to Corsicana. My dad would play on our piano, plunking out some boogies bitter bars. A railroad clerk, he ran with woe, drugging that journey with his gin ... Born for Christ in nineteen thirty-five, I bear a cross of love within, to help somebody’s heart survive.
Our darkest years saw Dukes comeback. For Duke would joy his band with jive, trumpeting his A Train on Loves track. 1 Deep Ellum is on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas. 2 the only black theater in Tyler, Texas.
October 17, 2009 Remembered Names 139
ON ELLINGTONIA
If you dig elegance, his music is your mistress.
Take the A Train to dance
up in Harlem, with finesse,
if only in memory;
it’s in my solitude,
in my souls reverie.
In a sentimental mood
I’m moving, I’m praying:
Dear Lord, in heaven above,
keep us sweetly swaying
to Ellington’s deep groove.
Johnny Hodges is so hip,
when he swings Warm Valley,
that he’ll take you on a trip
to glory, to Gods alley;
hell give you a poets tip:
It don’t mean a thing, man,
if it aint got that swing
a fantasy, black and tan!
Such love is everlasting.
The Duke would love you madly!
For his sound is so haunting,
as we glide to it, gladly.
November 9, 2009
