Jamesetta - by hakim bellamy
The day you died
God
Stopped questioning
His son’s
Sexuality
33 year old
Nazarene
With no kids
At a time when
Men fathered at 19
And grandfathered at 38
No Mary Magdalene
No Mary Kate and Ashley
No Mary
Jane
Yes,
There were questions
In heaven
Bigger than
Does it exist?
And it does.
There was living proof
Every time you opened your mouth, Etta
Like a Black Sabbath
You had a voice that would…
That would make God
Rest on the seventh day
Just LIKE
God
Patting himself
On the back
At the sound of you
We admire
Stare at you
Like our own
Like our own reflections
Spidered in the mirror
Hungover
Because our Sunday Kinda Love
Didn’t make it past Saturday night
Fractured
Leaving us with questions
Questions like
“Why can’t I sing like that!?”
Questions like
“I thought she was in recovery?”
Questions like
“Why does it seem like
The most broken lives
Give us the most solid voices?”
The most complete
Most whole
Most holy voices
Jamesetta Hawkins
A name only a teenage mother could love
And she did
You and Jesus
Had more in common
Than single mothers
And invisible fathers
Called your mom
The Mystery Lady
And imagine
They pro’lly thought
The same thing
About virgin
De Guadalupe
And her kid
With the immaculate childhood
A different kind of prodigy
Had you
Turned around
And split
Like your name
Etta James
Is who you was
After you went blonde
After you were told
To take advantage
Of your light complexion
After you agreed
To dye everything
Except your eyebrows
Cause you wanted to
Look like a “bad girl”
You bad girl!
Bad enough to
Make B.B. King
Sweet on you
At 16
In addiction recovery by 21
Gone 5 days
Before your 74th
Dementia
But still telling
Anyone who cares to listen
That you remember
That when you
Were still a child
People used to travel miles
Just hear you sing
Perform your own kind of miracles
In temples
With money changers and prostitutes
A prodigy too
With a voice
As milk and honey
As the heaven you’re from
No wonder
We’re still addicted to what you sung
Because it comes from
The heroin in ya lungs
Going thru withdrawals
Since you’ve been gone
Now,
I’m the one with the weight problem
Waiting for your next album
Fiending without you
Cause we can’t hear you sing anymore
Celestial body
Long before Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
Gave you a star
We weren’t prepared
For your hour-glass frame
To break
And leave Sugar All Over our floors
Said you…
“Sang the songs that people needed to hear”
And Jesus?
Was half “people”
And God was…
Disturbed
That his son kept a dairy
However,
God was
Damn happy
That his very good looking
But VERY single son
Wrote this
About you, Etta
In his diary
“You sang
You sang
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are…
Now in heaven
for you are mine…
At last.”
And that
Was the day
The angels
Got their voice back
Copyright Hakim Bellamy 2012
Premiered at Jazzbah Presents JazzBars with Hakim Be & Friends. 1st Tuesday of Every Month. Watch the livestream from ANYWHERE at www.jazzbahabq.com (Next Show March 6th, 2012 7pm & 9pm MST)
