Shortly after the great Aretha Franklin died, the ModPo poets paid tribute to her in rengays (collaborative poems) and individual poems. Here are a few for you to enjoy. Let's start with a rengay.
her magnificent voice: Aretha Franklin Tribute #1
By Benita Kape, Dee Aubert,
Julie Naslund, Ingrid Bruck,
Michael Peck & Leslie McKay
fireworks
the greater performance
her magnificent voice
brave words of courage
power and a brand new me
opens her mouth
sings the soul of ache and joy
into our bones
queen of r/e/s/p/e/c/t
put her life on the line
marching with King
sunlit vision in a dark world
transforms black and blue souls
her voice of God
unconditional
from the beginning
-------------------------------------------------
her imprint: Aretha Franklin Tribute #2
By Ingrid Bruck, Leslie McKay,
Michael Peck, SE Ingraham,
Dee Aubert & Julie Naslund
the ocean
another sky
blues bend and soar
her imprint on the horizon
unreachable
sun mirrors her soul
night reflects her skin
her voice weaves them
this gospel diva
rode pink Cadillac style
live and to the end
touched by gods and angels
ring of joy, empowerment
inauguration
sings out longing, promise, hope
that impossible hat
Don’t Play That Song, Play All Those Songs
For: The Queen of Soul
Sunday morning tribute
Every Baptist Church in America
Say A Little Prayer For Me
Gospel Choirs Sing, Yes they sing
Sing the power of the Queen of Soul
Voice of the Century: Sister Aretha Franklin
*****
Rock Steady
And we remember you
Wind down the car window
From Rock Steady
to Spanish Harlem
In songs, willing to forgive.
*****
How could you touch her? The song said.
In your hands the pain grows and grows
And your soul and your lines increase
Going further back
A Nineteen Seventy release
Don’t Play That Song
*****
Sitting beside Bergen (Candice)
You gave us stunning comedy and diva
That was a long time ago
Your mastery at the keys
When in Charlotte
You pay tribute to Whitney Houston
*****
Long, long time to get here
If I walk a little taller
If I speak up when you’re wrong
Lyrics we all understood
Words, and the many transposed
And it grew a new kind of free
*******
Re – re – re - respect
Give me my propers
Wrote Otis Redding
You – you – you
Earned it well Aretha
Aretha, to you the respect
*****
You were releasing
One Step Ahead in Nineteen Sixty Seven
Then came The House That Jack Built
Rushing to your side, song writers
Bobby Lane and Fran Robbins
That was Nineteen Sixty Eight
*****
Don’t Play That Song
Again: and again and again
Play all those songs
A Change Gonna Come, Amazing Grace
You rush to the side of Martin Luther King
“Black People Will Be Free”
*****
How many songs and how many writers?
Dozens and dozens
All wrote for you
So long as it’s Soul, Soul, Soul,
Soul: give us the Queen of Soul
Such strength and power in her incredible voice
*****
Sunday morning tribute
All over the world
Say A Little Prayer For Me
Gospel Choirs Sing, Yes they sing
Sing the power of the Queen of Soul
Voice of the Century: Sister Aretha Franklin
Benita H. Kape © 19.8.2018
Notes:
Cherita form:: Cherita in Malaysian means to tell a story. Usually written in 1 line – 2 lines – 3 lines. When written in other variations of those lines, these are known as Cherita Terbalik. Terbalik in Malay means to reverse. This poem “Don’t Play That Song, Play All Those Songs”begins with Cherita and continues with variations, Cherita Terbalik, ending again with a Cherita.
Aretha Franklin
she sang from her heart
words so full of love and pain
those who listened left with wet eyes
knowing they had heard
what they felt in their heart
everything about Aretha was big
her voice, her endurance, her strength
she knew the blues inside and out
her smile bursting with the glory
of one who consumed the pain
of the blues
turning that pain into complete faith
in herself and her love of life ©
~ by Michael Peck
I like to think of Aretha Franklin
birthing a son before she was a teen,
singing “Natural Woman”
for all the child-women who doubted
they had the right to feel like a woman.
She claimed “Respect” for herself and all Sisters.
I like to think of Aretha Franklin
demanding her place in line
when she marched for freedom with King.
She crumbled when MLK was shot,
when racial hatred flared and cities burned.
She despaired for common women,
the Black ones and whites like me.
I like to think of Aretha Franklin
feminist icon, activist and Vietnam protestor
singing “Chain of Fools”,
broadcasting war follies,
challenging white generals’ incompetence,
lamenting senseless deaths of young soldiers.
I like to think of Aretha Franklin
devoted to her large family
going home to care for her father
when he was too sick to know it.
I like to think of the Queen of Soul
singing gospel and faith,
singing blues and protest
her voice, grand
her songs, jazz.
She started poor, got rich,
proved a woman can do it.
I like to think of Aretha Franklin.
* Inspired by “I like to think of Harriet Tubman” by Susan Griffin
~ by Ingrid Bruck
Writer’s Group Bio:
HowModPoWritesPoetry is a global group of writers from five countries with a shared interest in haiku and short forms. We met taking ModPo (Modern American Poetry), a massive free online MOOC. The connections we made in the class were so strong, we didn’t want to lose them and formed our closed online writing group. We’ve been together for four years. One of our favorite forms to write is rengay, a collaborative haiku form in six stanzas developed by Gary Gay (American). Our group discovered many shared interests, one of which is jazz. When singer and song writer Aretha Franklin died recently, our poets wrote her tribute poems (collaborative rengay & sole author).
A Selection of Rengay & Individual Tribute Poems to Aretha Franklin: by writers from the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and New Zealand
Dee Aubert is a Mexican poet who resides in Switzerland.
Ingrid Bruck lives and writes in Pennsylvania Amish country, US.
S.E. Ingraham is a Canadian poet from Edmonton.
Benita Kape is a New Zealand poet with an interest in Japanese short forms and the Western devised, (though based on haiku) rengay.
Julie Naslund writes in the high desert of central Oregon. She feels that poetry is an act of translation.
Leslie McKay is an Aotearoa/New Zealand poet and writing teacher.
Susanne Margono, a German poet, lives in upstate New York, US.
Michael Peck is a US poet and playwright from Utah.
And now for the music!
Let's start with "Don't Play That Song": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQEuVKDJx1I
Here she performs "Rock Steady" on Soul Train:
I have to add "This is the House that Jack Built": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmUXnQ_35-U
Have to include "Freeway of Love" as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leg7hDIH-JY
This is her "Bridge Over Troubled Water": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-yfeA2JZs
I don't know how to top this, so I won't. Enjoy!
lovely...
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