by
Bobbi Katz
Our class is learning
the Senegal Procession:
djembes, congas, bells!
Fingers rap. Palms slap.
My whole being focuses
catching rhythmic cues.
I play the djembe
Messages leap through my hands.
I am a current.
“Take it from the top”:
the Senegal Procession
again and again.
Long after practice
rhythms still throb inside me.
Patterns re-echo
becoming pulse beats...
pulse beats becoming dream beats…
girl becoming. . . drum.
©2011 Bobbi Katz. All rights reserved.
Don't you just feel the rhythms and the energy Bobbi Katz creates in what I believe is the first haiku we've seen in the years of 30 Poets/30 Days (though I admit I'm going by memory on that!). Even if you've never played the djembe, if you're like me, you can sense what it must be like... and can feel the poem long after reading.
Bobbi Katz is another poet who took part in Poetry Tag Time, the ebook project from Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell (still available, by the way!) Check out a blog post from yesterday about her entry, Things to Do If You Are a Snowman, even if you've already nabbed the ebook. I really love the way Bobbi Katz plays with forms and rhythms and words (like in her last poem here, too), and I'm really excited to have her here today as part of 30 Poets/30 Days.
Yesterday gave us If I... by Brod Bagert. Up next, 101 Donations by Alan Katz! For more information on 30 Poets/30 Days and how to follow along, please click here.
2 comments:
Even not knowing the song, I want a drum!
A double serving of Katz (Bobbi and Alan) is a great way to spend a Saturday. Haikurumba!!!!
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