Proud Mary Speaks

Tuesday, June 15, 2021
     It’s true         they never did any— thing nice and ea—sy even standing next          to each other   arm blade—d by arm even on stage         Ike’s st   hovering like a rhetorical question     . .     Tina’s smile complete—ly frozen nice and easy, she always growl—ed her       .     voice at that part   my part   to o set the — inch, shift the pressure     .   in the air no one’s ever asked about her favorite color in all the interviews with the        .   .    white men   and the Black   men   ain’t that funny?         . . .     I won’t presume I freed her — but when she danced me,            my notes tun—nel—ing out of her throat, the way Tina twirled with her arms             reaching runnin’—a—way—while—standin’—in—the—same place     .     like a waxed gure she practiced this staged freedom jivin’ up n’ down        rollin’—six—feet—to—the—left—then—six—feet—back risin’ with my tempo      . .   boilin’ over her like honey everyone always wondered how she did it—     .     how her wig stayed on    6   “PROUD MARY” SPEAKS(Following Tina Turner’s Failed Escape, Olympia Hall 1968)