BOOKS by T.J. Speaks
JUBA - Poems That Dance
ISBN-978-1-4327-2747-5
JUBA
Even as a young dancer, I refused to question WHY
Mama strummed a mother's pain against a father's PRIDE
Seeing mister press hands toward a blood-filled SKY
Folklore bemoaning riverbeds stained with slave CRIES
Tears O'generations amid segregation to plodder LIFE
Blind debts foretelling hatred, spewing black STRIFE
Bawling truths the middle passage ventured to HIDE
Erecting slave ships, with clandestine tales buried INSIDE
Songs from voices graved atop respect and humanity DENIED
Gonna swing ... prance, and do my pretty free black DANCE
Gonna keep my soul from standing bold in a plantation STANCE
Gonna plant trees by the bank along Thousand Mile RIVER
Gonna cast roots far and wide, like magnolias that TIMBRE
Gonna taste salts collected coast-side beneath metrical FEET
Gonna make fertile hearts burlapped by benevolent SPEECH
Gonna sow seeds for harvest wit'soul-procity' UNDENIED
Gonna keep new roots soaked true, never questioning WHY
Gonna Lamba and Mora these black legs of mine ... and JUBA till I DIE
_01.png)
Books by
T. J. Speaks
Available on bn.com & KINDLE
TURNING a BLIND EYE
This folksy tale of self-discovery, finds Bailey Hannigan racing back to her roots in the Napa Valley - for what Grandpa Hannigan describes as 'important family business'. Through a series of dramatic twists designed to keep Bailey close to her destiny, she begins to realize the bright Hollywood lights rest in her heart (and not on a hill). As she falls in line with Grandpa's glass-half-full plan, she catches the heart of an unlikely suitor who gives new meaning to the old adage ... 'LOVE IS BLIND'
