The Body Exquisite: Quincy Troupe
Quincy Troupe
Duende: For Garcia Lorca and Miles Davis
it’s in the bottomless power, magic of duende
climbing stealthily from earth, wrapped inside
secrets, mystery infused in black magic
that enters bodies in forms of music, art,
poetry imbuing language with sovereignty,
in blood spooling back through violent centuries,
voices echoing ancient Africa, rise, thread
beauty, power through male and female
bodies encased in black, white, red yellow
skins entrancing eyeballs black, green, yellow,
blue, looking up to the sky in search for truth,
this from skins of blessed, sacred rituals, people
emerging from drums as heart beats in time
with language supple as a sweet woman’s body,
when memory is revived here now in rhythm,
when love sang through two bodies committed
to sing together when old voices found their way
into song when their tongues wrapped around
each other with rhythms stitched forgotten
by some when sound left their tongues and they
forgot how to speak the language beaten out
of them when they were whipped on slave ships,
but now we need them to remember the time
that brings back wonder of their feet pounding
the ground, too dance, the holy ghost lost when they
were stolen from their bloody homelands, now
we need their souls underneath to rise up through
the past and enter their bodies once again with power,
creativity, to spool-back with talismans, hypnotic,
pull ancient voodoo up in buckets filled with holy water,
too evoke memories drinking from whodunit secrets
and awakened themselves through poetry of Garcia Lorca,
his Andalusian dues heard in Miles Davis’ clues
vibrating anew in Sketches of Spain, andante blues,
rise-up now children and dance, dance with new power,
eye say rise up now people and dance, dance, dance
Quincy Troupe's 11th book of poetry, Duende Poems: 1966 – Now, will be published by Seven Stories Press in the fall of 2021.
He's hard at work on a memoir, The Accordion Years.