Here is one of the finest poems I’ve read in a long time, Ode to a Drum written by American poet, Yusef Komunyakaa. Please accept it as a festive gift and pass it on.
Gazelle, I killed you
for your skin’s exquisite
touch, for how easy it is
to be nailed to a board
weathered raw as white
butcher paper. Last night
I heard my daughter praying
for the meat here at my feet.
You know it wasn’t anger
that made me stop my heart
till the hammer fell. Weeks
ago, I broke you as a woman
once shattered me into a song
beneath her weight, before
you slouched into that
grassy hush. But now
I’m tightening lashes,
shaping hide as if around
a ribcage, stretched
like five bowstrings.
Ghosts cannot slip back
inside the body’s drum.
You’ve been seasoned
by wind, dusk & sunlight.
Pressure can make everything
whole again, brass nails
tacked into the ebony wood
your face has been carved
five times. I have to drive
trouble from the valley.
Trouble in the hills.
Trouble on the river
too. There’s no kola nut,
palm wine, fish, salt,
or calabash. Kadoom.
Kadoom. Kadoom. Ka-
doooom. Kadoom. Now
I have beaten a song back into you,
rise & walk away like a panther.
Source: Internet Poetry Archive
For more works by award-winning American poet, Yusef Komunyakaa
![384px-Yusef_Komunyakaa_2011_NBCC_Awards_2012_Shankbone[1]](https://tishfarrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/384px-yusef_komunyakaa_2011_nbcc_awards_2012_shankbone1.jpg "384px-Yusef_Komunyakaa_2011_NBCC_Awards_2012_Shankbone[1]")
Yusef Komunyakaa Photo: David Shankbone, Creative Commons
Tish Farrell 
Very lovely–thanks for sharing it, Tish.
Thank you Tish, remarkable work.
Glad you liked it, Gilly. Happy Christmas to you.
good finish: “Now
I have beaten a song back into you,
rise & walk away like a panther…”
Yes, isn’t that stunning. And while I’m here, happy Christmas Frizz, to you and your family. It is a pleasure to know you. Tx
Beautiful, wonderful, awesome . . .
I thought you’d like to see it again. I know I gave you a copy, but I guess it might’ve got ‘filed’. Happy Christmas, Kate. ‘Like a panther’, eh!
This is a beautiful gift, thank you so much for sharing this with us, Tish!
Our best wishes for a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
God jul!
Dina, Klausbernd, Siri & Selma
Happy Christmas and a brilliant New Year to you wonderful Fab Four. Look forward to catching up with you all next year. Cheers!
Oh, so masterful, beautiful work! I have seen this drum made, brought me back right there on the road to south Uganda. Happy 2015 Tish and TL!
Yes, it was only in Africa that I began to learn what a magical thing is a drum, and the making of them more rite than handicraft alone. Happy New Year to you and your family, Tiny.
One of my best till date.
It is indeed a brilliant poem.
Reblogged this on afapinen.