“Strange fruit.” A teenage boy looked out the window of the full bus, and announced this, as you might point out landmarks that we pass (“My sister took a guitar lesson there once,” or “Best pancakes in the city”). A few of the bus passengers looked over, and then noticed the earbuds trailing out from under his hood, leading into his pocket. Plugged in.
In this order, I thought:
- He is listening to Kanye West’s “Blood on the Leaves,” which samples Billie Holiday’s song.
- He is singing along with Kanye West but really he is singing along with Billie Holiday,
- Billie Holliday’s song borrows its lyrics from a poem.
- In the bus it is 1930 and 2013.
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Fun to share something completely unfinished with you today--happy Friday! What projects are you starting/working on (or abandoning for the weekend)?
I like the topic. I was pretty sure I knew "strange fruit" as a phrase related to race, but I couldn't and still cannot recall the details. So your essay-to-be seems headed for something connected to racial and musical issues, then and now.
ReplyDeleteI am overhauling my site. 38 poems deleted, three can be possibly salvaged. New set of standards, hundreds of rhyming words freed for re-use.
ReplyDelete