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“Tree”(1924) photo by Alfred Stieglitz/via Raw Pixel/CC0 1.0 Deed

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Song of the Poplar Tree

The song playing always catches me off guard. My trembling fingers quicken to remove the old vinyl record. I must stop her voice from singing. Even the wispy quality carries the heavy weight. I weep. Not being able to listen further to ancient lynchings. Now, leaves out of my window seem to change to golden yellow. A somber Autumn equinox. Reminding blood on the leaves, blood at the roots. Black body swinging.

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Jerrice J. Baptiste  is a poet, educator, facilitator of Authentic Poetry workshops. Her poems are published and forthcoming in Jerry Jazz Musician, Urthona – Buddhism & Art, Mantis, Wax Poetry & Fiction, The Dewdrop, The Banyan Review, Kosmos Journal, The Poetry Distillery, Impspired, Penumbra Literary & Art Journal, The Autoethonographer. She was nominated as Best of the Net in 2022 by Blue Stem. Her poetry and collaborative songwriting are featured on the Grammy nominated album: Many Hands Family Music for Haiti. She’s the hostess of Women of Note on WKZE, 98.1FM in Red Hook, NY.

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Listen to the 1939 recording of Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit,” with Sonny White (piano); Stanley Payne (tenor saxophone); Tab Smith (alto saxophone); Frankie Newton (trumpet); John Williams (bass); Eddie Dougherty (drums).  The song was composed by Abel Meeropol, under the pseudonym “Lewis Allan” [Universal Music Group]

 

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Jerry Jazz Musician…human produced (and AI-free) since 1999

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