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Tag Archives: music

For the Godfather

By David Stallings © 2007

You needed to be 18
to get into the Rainbow Ballroom,
but they let Norm and me in anyway.
Things were different
in this tough Colorado steel town.
We sat near the stage, ordered three-two beer—
the only two white faces
among many tables of black ones.
Contraband liquor flowed,
empty bottles rolled on the floor.
When the band eased into Please, Please, Please,
we were […]

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Umi No Shika (Canto for the Sea)

By David Stallings © 2006

Joined now by a Japanese
women’s choir, our drums
weave voices and bodies
into song.
When we thunder an ancient
Hokkaido fisherman’s
chant, another voice
rises, sings with us—
of our fathers
who fought
on bleeding islands
under the rising sun.
We yell, stomp
our feet, haul
the catch of fish
and smile
at our children,
who dance and hoop
the sea’s energy.

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