“The Blues In My Heart, The Rhythm In My Soul” by Cammy Thomas (poetry, ’99)

A poem by Cammy Thomas (poetry, ’99) appears in The Missouri Review:

 

The Blues in My Heart, the Rhythm in My Soul

—for SMM

She asked for my Elmore James album—
the only time she asked me for anything
in the eight years she cooked
and cleaned and washed our hair,
picked us up from school
and helped us bathe and choose our clothes.

. . . for the poet’s contextual note, and the rest of the poem, continue reading here.