Manilatown’s poetry event this past weekend, “Rhymes and Rhythms” was food for the soul. I felt the spirit of my Uncle Al and Bill Sorro in the room as poets spoke about breaking down walls that keep us trapped, alienated from community. Devorah Major blew me away with the poem below…it speaks volumes about the city. It’s beautiful when the poet captures what you feel…and puts it into a song that feels like it was written for just you in mind. As a native of San Francisco, the poem illustrates how I feel when thinking of the city that has been home to my family for 4 generations.
City Scat
we come to this city
of concrete, brick
steel and toil
country people
knowing the earth
sea faring people
reading the tides
gambling people
holding jokers and spades
we come to this city
hard laughin’
weep sob wailin’
prayin’ celebratin’ people
bending and sweating
we come to
this hiss crack
slap snap
siren whirl
holler
electric zip
and burn
city
rounding
bustling corners
banging our heads
against destiny
and crumbling
brick walls of confusion
we come to this city
that can cage us
enrage us
deny us
revile us
turn us
from friends and family
into prey and predator
we come to this city
this hip howl
she bop
da he bop
da we bop
bang clang
swinging city
and we name it ours
–devorah major
devorah major is the first North American African poet laureate of San Francisco. She is a novelist, poet, essayist and professor at the California College of Arts.
