one of my mothers does.
To speak of her, and of my other mothers,
I mention my fathers first.
All of them, my fathers, are white
imposing their strong European names
upon their wives and sons and daughters,
upon my mothers
and brothers
and sisters, upon us.
They asked me to address them,
it was Father's Day during Mission Meeting.
I was to give a word, an MK token.
Hi, I said, I'm JK,
I'm a recovering missionaries' kid.
They laughed but don't acknowledge feminist ambiguities,
the work one does in recovering from,
in recovery of,
when secrets come out in safety.
My African American mother
passed away before the Fair Housing
Act was passed; "Nancy" not "negro," Papa.
My Vietnamese mother
died abandoned in a reeducation
camp when peace came, remember "Sister"?
My boarding school white mothers,
Edna, Liz, Ruth, then Mildred, like me,
graciously submitted, except for widow Mildred, then me.
Margarita had taught us her children to read
because she reads, has read for sixty some years this month.
------
When i was young
It seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees
Well they´d be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me
But then they sent me away
To teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible ,practical
And they showed me a world
Where i could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical
There are times when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we´ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am
Now watch what you say
Or they´ll be calling you a radical
A liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Oh won´t you sign up your name
We´d like to feel you´re
Acceptable, respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
At night when all the world´s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won´t you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who i am, who i am, who i am.
------
Ow
Yeah, yeah
When I was a young skinny boy
My mama said to me
The world out there is hard and dirty
Mean as it wants to be
I know there's gonna be times
when you're down and out
So listen now kid
Listen now son
I'll tell you what it's all about
You gotta try to keep your
head above the water
That's what my mama told me
You gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
And even though you do
some things you shouldn't
ought to
Shouldn't ought to
If you love your brothers love
will come back to you
Love'll come back to you
Love'll come back to you
Love'll come back to you
Lived my life in so many ways
To find out who I am
Time's approaching
I really can say
Truly I understand
Got more livin' to do for myself
To run along now
Play along later
Stay up by the shelf
Sing it girls
Gotta try to keep your
head above the water
Yes you do yes you do
You gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
Even though you do some things
you shouldn't ought to
If you love your sisters, love
will come back to you
Love'll come back to you
Love'll come back to you
All the world is turnin' slow
Slowly it will die
But that is something I never will see
I don't know why
Tryin' to take the world the best I can
Write a bit now
Love a bit later
Stand up like a man
hey, hey
Gotta try to keep your
head above the water
Yes you do yes you do yes you do
Gotta try to keep a step ahead of time
Even though you do some things
you shouldn't ought to
Love your brothers and sisters,
love'll come back to you
Love'll come back to you
Love'll come back to you
-------------
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