POETRY INDEX
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"She'd make me cut wood, wash clothes and build a fire under the pot. ... People thought that was abusive. My mother had the attitude 'He's got to learn, and just because he's blind doesn't mean he's stupid.'" -- Interview with Ray Charles, reported June 11, 2004 by Reuters UK
Elegy for Ray Charles
Ray, no one knows what it's like to carry water
Even the boy Pharaoh
Just to show he was a man.
At least until your child
"You always got to carry water," she said.
Long time
In both hands,
With your feet.
A song comes that way --
Laugh or cry it's the same.
Long time, water, both hands.
Poet Stephen Kuusisto's most recent book is Only Bread, Only Light. He teaches in the graduate creative writing program at Ohio State University in Columbus. |
© Copyright 2004 by The Advocado Press