SOUL
FOOD
Nourishing the
Spirit
JEFFREY PERRY
Smashwords Edition
Copyright Jeffrey V. Perry 2009
Dedicated
TO
GREGORY JEROME EDWARDS
(9/19/1951 – 10/31/2008)
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Tell It To The Mountaintop -
Soul Food
Untitled
Good Spirit
Reaching “Go”
Charity
Wo-Man Is No-Man
God’s Joke
Family Tree
Woman
They Make An Angel Bleed
Van: A Self-Portrait
Slave Man’s Prayer
Relationship
Age Of Exposure
The End Is Always Near, On A Circle
Nowhere Else To Go
Live It Well!
All Heads To The Sky
No Song
I Will Believe In Me
A Flower, A Child’s Poem
Other Side Of The Mountaintop
Silence Is Golden!
Man
No Angel
Life
Don Quixote’s Effect
Don Quixote Too
The Lessons Of Life
Being Black
The Writing On The Wall
No Victory At The End
Without A Prayer
Oh My Faith
A Love Deferred
Love For Phyllis
How I Love This Song
Yours Tomorrow
To My Love (Missing You)
Love Hand
I Am Going To Love You More
When
The Black Man
Political Correctness
Day And Nigh
The Rapture
End Of Intelligence
Truth In Life
BONUS MATERIALS
Love’s Echo
The Different “N” Word
Quasi
The Black Man’s Burden
We Stand on the Verge
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mom good cooking, over the years -
All those good cooks, unsung heroes who fed the multitudes –
A special thanks to Uncle Gene for all his help –
Thank God for this time together!
Amen
I-N-T-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-O-N
The theme of Soul Food, this book of poems, is reflected with paramount, in this original work, in the poem by the same name. However, there is much more to be said about my poetry. Nourishing the Spirit, the subtitle gives a better understanding that there is more than just eating a good dinner, as this reveals and highlights. As we all know, the body needs food, wholesome and nourishing food — in order for us to be healthy. “Soul food”, while once and to a degree, we still treasure, relish, and pride ourselves as we savor and devour it, even considering it as being part of our culture or heritage – our ethnic food, we now know that “soul food” can also be considered not healthy. Much of what is labeled as “soul food,” is food that causes high cholesterol, hypertension, heart problems, and other maladies. The term, “soul food,” probably was derived from the end scraps that were left for slaves to consume, just tasty enough, I guess, “to keep’em able for work.” What we once treasured as “superbly goodness,” now is known to leave us with untold health problems and untoward issues, which continue to surmount. Why then in the world title the book, Soul Food! I did not think of this at the time, just something juicy enough to move some heads! (Hopefully, it will move some readers enough to get to this introduction) When a change is necessary, is when it proves hardest to make. (Yours truly!) The “soul food” in this book of poetry tries to reach the inner spirit. We as Black people are mystified in the spirit, the soul of Black people who have endured through it all. With only the thought of the presence of God, “THEY” remained hopeful, and preserved THEIR future that has ensured my (Our) presence here. It was not through an anger or a contempt for self that our people found an answer, it was within a “good spirit.” Even, without the Psalms of David, a “soul food,” they did eat. Without certainty or for- surety did they rely on others? While there were those who helped our ancestors because they too believed that there was something in the blue sky. It might have been all that was there, “for certain.” It is time for us all to meet and greet at the table of brotherhood, to sit across from one another, to honestly smile, to glorify our souls, and to make up the time we have lost, because, still, there is work to do! [Soul Food was originally published as chapter 1 of Conversations with a Soul Brother. Some of the poetry has been revised and includes some new materials.
TELL IT TO THE MOUNTAINTOP
Tell it to the mountaintop!
So that it be heard
Tell it to the mountaintop,
Resolve every word.
Tell it!
They will listen-
Tell it to the mountain,
Tell what, they are missing!
Tell it once
Then, tell it twice.
Tell it plain
Sweet and nice
Say it till it is understood.
Explain, why
“It is all good!”
Let them know how arduous
The pace
Say it with grace
Say it in good taste
Say it to the whole human race.
Tell it to the mountaintop!
Tell it in its place.
Simply say it!
Not just in haste.
State its case!
Tell it to that mountain,
Tell it to the mountaintop.
Tell it to them all!
Tell it face to face-
Tell completely the human race
(A facsimile of my first poem, circa 1963)
SOUL FOOD
There is a physical hunger,
A spiritual one too
Here the soul needs to feed
As we cannot live without food
Our soul dies without love
Love is the food of the soul
Love lived nourishes the spirit
A full spirit is a full life
Where every breath known
To be precious
A nourished soul
Lives physically on every
Morsel of food
Tasting every crumb that
Physical life has to offer
Until physical hunger
Is spiritualized!
All food, soul food
All Love, our need for each other
Our Hunger, true Compassion
A demand for a greater love
Some people die daily – physically - of
hunger
More tragically, more die spiritually,
From lack of love for life lived.
UNTITLED
Life repeats itself,
While we just continue.
“There is nothing new under the sun.”
As, we see in life’s reproduction
When we invent anew,
Its true work,
“Who is fooling who?”
From the wheel on
From Earth to the moon,
(We will get there soon!)
While this life’s gone on
New day is done!
Call it living
We’re not hearing
Our life near!
With the setting of the sun,
Do it once, then again
Once more it has all begun.
Life repeats itself
Just as someone else
Under just our Sun,
We live for nobody else’s
GOOD SPIRIT
There will come in time
When master-God will give the sign
To the end of time-
He will call even Satan back
With his likes
Satan will then open up
The gates of hell
Letting in those who fell
Those who have turned their backs
Then it will be as it has only been
That heaven, hell, and Earth,
Together will be under Him-
Our testament of our true worth
Un-judged death, life, or birth
Then this spirit will not be
Who we are, you, and me
Then, all words will be free
Unwashed, un-cursed, unleashed
Not only sounding true, but like
Pleasant music, tasty food for the belly
For then, blood will drip love
And breath will have a self
And nothing else-
Our spirits won
The circle complete
At journey’s end
Mind, heart, soul, and spirit
All meet
To become one
In God’s sight
Seen - one dimension - at the right?
Darkness and lightness
Out of our sight
Just good spirit-
REACHING “GO”
(Road to Recovery)
When I was young,
We would play “Stop and Go,”
A game of one-step at a time
Sometimes, most of the time-
“One, two, three red light
One, two, three green light”