BY THE GRACE OF GRACE

FOR GRACE AND JAKE

When god evicted First Couple

He gave them some cash

That would last until they found jobs

And an apartment to crash

First, they needed to go shopping

Adam said, “I was so tired of that fruit

Diet that I welcome this break

I wish that I was seated in

A five-star restaurant

With a well done

Juicy steak on my plate.”

“Haven’t you forgotten something?”

Eve said 

“What?” Adam said and then

“O, right, clothes”

They walked about the city 

Attracting sneering glances

And the barking of dogs

While trogging their way 

Through the London fog

They were chased by the Bobbies

Whom they lost in the crowd

They were not wearing clothes

For crying out loud

They ducked into a shop

And encountered a lass

She was

Transforming fabrics into 

Magical threads

She had a lot of class

Her white suit impeccable

And silver earrings too

Her demeanor was unflappable

As she mixed reds, yellows, oranges

And blues

Her stitching was brilliant

Like Sonny Stitt playing his horn

He said, “I was doing

Flatted 5ths before Bird

Was born”

 

 Grace Wales Bonner looked

 Up at her customers and before

 They could say their names

 She said, “I know who you are

 I’m aware of your fame

 I figured that you’d visit

 And I’ve measured your frames”

 

 “For you Eve, try this on The 

Celeste Open Collar Shirt Dress

 The green is a reminder of your home

 And Adam, you get the Diego

 Single-breasted cotton-blend

 Black Blazer

 Some say that if

 You press the top gold button you

 Can make a wish”

 “I know what that wish will be.” Eve 

 Said “it will be in the form of a dish.”

  

 They were having that dish 

 On Canal Street downtown

 The restaurant at the Metrograph

 Where the film buffs dine

 Adam said

 “The patrons admire our attire

 Thanks to Grace, by the way, Eve, how

 Did you know about this place?” Adam asked

 While forking his steak

 Eve answered while enjoying

 A Martini’s taste

 “I was told to check it out

 By the Garden’s albino snake”

Reprinted with permission of the author

Ishmael Reed is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, songwriter, public media commentator, lecturer and publisher.  Author of more than thirty books, Dalkey Archive Press published his eleventh novel, Conjugating Hindi, in 2018. In 2020, his latest non-fiction work, Malcolm and Me, was published by Audible, with Reed as narrator. Baraka Books of Montreal published his latest essay collection, Why No Confederate Statues in Mexico, in 2019.  Why the Black Hole Sings the Blues, his most recent poetry collection, is forthcoming in 2020 by Dalkey Archive Press. Other recent books include his tenth novel, Juice! (2011); and The Complete Muhammad Ali (Baraka Books, 2015). New York’s Nuyorican Poets Café premiered his ninth and newest play, The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda, May 23, 2019, which garnered three 2019 AUDELCO awards;  the Nuyorican produced his eighth play, Life Among the Aryans in 2018. Reed is founder of the Before Columbus Foundation and PEN Oakland, non-profit organizations run by writers for writers. He is a MacArthur Fellow, and among his other honors are the University of Buffalo’s 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize nominations, and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Award. Awarded the 2008 Blues Songwriter of the Year from the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame, his collaborations with jazz musicians for the past forty years were also recognized by SFJazz Center with his appointment, from 2012-2016, as San Francisco’s first Jazz Poet Laureate and in Venice, Italy, where he became the first Alberto Dubito International awardee, honored as “a special artistic individual who has distinguished himself through the most innovative creativity in the musical and linguistic languages.”  Reed is currently working on The Terrible Fours, the third novel in his “Terribles” trilogy. His online international literary magazine, Konch, can be found at www.ishmaelreedpub.com.  His author website is located at www.ishmaelreedpub.org.

Photo by Tennessee Reed.