CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH ONE POET AT A TIME: CORNELIUS EADY

ALL THIS MONTH OF FEB. IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND I HERE AT LIFE IN WORDS WILL BE SHOWCASING AFRICAN AMERICAN POETS.

Cornelius Eady

CORNELIUS EADY IS A POET WITH POWERFUL WORDS AND DEEP UNDERSTANDING TO THE ART OF WRITING GREAT POETRY THAT STANDS OUT AS ORIGINAL, NEW AND FRESH. HIS POETRY IS OFTEN ENRICHED WITH JAZZ AND THE BLUES. HE MIXES THE FAMILY LIFE AND ALSO THE IDEA OF THE VIOLENCE AND RACE AND CULTURE'S. HE IS A POWERFUL FIGURE IN THAT YOU CAN RELATE TO HIS POETRY.
HIS POETRY IS WRITTEN FOR THE BASIC READER AT HAND. A LOT OF POETS WRITE IN WORDS THAT YOU HAVE TO PAUSE AND GRAB A DICTIONARY TO UNDERSTAND THEM, EADY ISN'T ONE LIKE THAT, HIS POETRY FLOWS FOR THE READER AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL TO BE ABLE TO RELATE AND GET WHAT THE POET IS SAYING.

POEM SHOWCASE

I'm A Fool To Love You

Some folks will tell you the blues is a woman,

Some type of supernatural creature.

My mother would tell you, if she could,

About her life with my father,

A strange and sometimes cruel gentleman.

She would tell you about the choices

A young black woman faces.

Is falling in love with some man

A deal with the devilIn blue terms, the tongue we use

When we don't want nuance

To get in the way,

When we need to talk straight.

My mother chooses my father

After choosing a man

Who was, as we sing it,

Of no account.

This man made my father look good,

That's how bad it was.

He made my father seem like an island

In the middle of a stormy sea,

He made my father look like a rock.

And is the blues the moment you realize

You exist in a stacked deck,

You look in a mirror at your young face,

The face my sister carries,

And you know it's the only leverage

You've got.

Does this create a hurt that whispers

How you going to do?

Is the blues the moment

You shrug your shoulders

And agree, a girl without money

Is nothing, dust

To be pushed around by any old breeze.

Compared to this,

My father seems, briefly,

To be a fire escape.

This is the way the blues works

Its sorry wonders,

Makes trouble look like

A feather bed,

Makes the wrong man's kisses

A healing.

BY: Cornelius Eady