jump mama -- Kurtis Lamkin

Guest poem submitted by Anil C. Mohan :

(Poem #1629) jump mama pretty summer day grammama sittin on her porch easy rockin her grandbaby in her wide lap ol men sittin in their lincoln tastin and talkin and talkin and tastin young boys on the corner milkin a yak yak wild hands baggy pants young girls halfway up the block jumpin that double dutch singin their song kenny kana paula be on time cause school begins at a quarter to nine jump one two three and aaaaaaah. . . round the corner comes this young woman draggin herself heavy home from work she sees the young boys sees the old men but when she sees the girls she just starts smilin she says let me get a little bit of that they say you can't jump you too old why they say that o, why they say that she says tanya you hold my work bag chaniqua come over here girl i want you to hold my handbag josie could you hold my grocery bag please kebè take my purse she starts bobbin her head, jackin her arms tryin to catch the rhythm of the ropes and when she jumps inside those turning loops the girls crowd her sing their song kenny kana paula be on time cause school begins at a quarter to nine jump one two three and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah she jumps on one leg -- aaaaah she dances sassy saucy -- aaaaah jump for the girls mama jump for the stars mama jump for the young boys sayin jump mama! jump mama! jump for the old woman sayin -- aww, go head baby and what the young girls say what the young girls say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah -- Kurtis Lamkin

I chanced upon this wonderful poem a few days ago and then noticed that you
had no poems by the relatively  new-age African-American poet Kurtis Lamkin
(biography appended). Lamkin is a multi-faceted talent - besides being a
poet, he is also a musician who plays a 21-stringed West African harp/lute
instrument called the 'kora', has composed the lyrics and music for a dance
concert ('Psychic Lover') and had an animated poem "The Foxes Manifesto,"
based upon the 1976 Soweto Rebellion that was aired for two years on PBS.

I'm not given to much interpreting of poems.  More often, poems that I hold
dear are ones that connect with me at a deep, albeit inexpressible level.
This Lamkin poem impressed upon me in two essential ways. One, it's basic
cadence - it's wonderful rhythmic, bass feel...the 'make your feet tap, body
sway and head nod from side to side, up and down' kind of groove.  And two,
the way it connected aspects of our different 'life selves' together: the
child - active, free, uninhibited, insensitive, self-centred; the young
working adult - harried, cumbered, responsible, tired, worried, hopeful,
'child'ish; the old folk - unhurried - slow-paced, encouraging, observant,
contemplative - reflective.

Hope our minstrel readers like it too....

Anil C. Mohan

 [Bio of Kurtis Lamkin]

Kurtis Lamkin is currently touring the United States with a new collection
of praise poems entitled EL SHABAZZ (CD, Jambaco Sound). As he reads these
poems in praise of the spiritual connection he experienced as a participant
in the Million Man March and in praise of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm
X), Kurtis Lamkin plays the kora, a twenty-one stringed West African
harp-lute used by Djelis (griots, troubadours) to accompany original and
traditional compositions. His own oral compositions explore the counterpoint
between the fixed meanings of words and the raw sounds ("scat") that emerge
from and dissolve into feeling. He has performed his poems and music
internationally, from Sajara, Gambia (West Africa) to the Guggenheim Museum
in New York. His poems have also been broadcast on PBS as a short animated
film (THE FOXES MANIFESTO), choreographed as a dance concert ("Psychic
Lover"), and previously recorded on the CD MY JUJU (1995). From 1994-1996,
he was Poet in Residence at the New School for Social Research. Before that,
he taught in metropolitan New York public schools and community sites
through Teachers & Writers Collaborative. A Philadelphia native, he recently
moved with his family to Charleston, South Carolina. His poems are included
in I FEEL A LITTLE JUMPY AROUND YOU (1996), and he has received fellowships
from the South Carolina Arts Commission and The Fund for Poetry.