did the James Brown spared no words

listening without hearing

 

he danced with expression in hiding

incognito without a face

I couldn’t turn away…watched fervently

knew he was saying something

was he talking to me or anyone unafraid

with the courage to stop and listen

could they hear it

I knew they could listen

as he was maximized in silk

timed sensuality… starry strides

but could they hear

probably the content was marked

they’d be distracted by his shake

hearing meant coming too far

could they hear without making it their plight

judging and indicting

removing ourselves from the equation

is the ache the same ache

would they understand this dance

perhaps favoring cursive muscles abstract legs more

every note was a skip romantic

and so they never heard

 

would you

 

 

Reviews

[kublakhan27]

I suppose this could be applied to many people and many scenes, but being a JB fan, it was hard for me to separate his name from the subject matter once I saw the title...many believed he was a better dancer than a singer, and he was really the first singer to successfully merge the two, but it may have overshadowed some of his more thoughtful songs (Say It Loud is the one that comes to mind first). On a broader level, I imagine it being applied to a spoken-word session...of course there's no dancing involved there, but some writers just have a presence on stage, and I took a metaphor for that out of these words...your work always succeeds in filling my mind with mental pictures...well done as always my friend.