Once
in a village called the District, Reuben Jackson’s smile pulled up
at the American Poetry Museum, about a fortnight after of his
passing. It appeared on a Sunday, thick with verses and Pepe’s
thumping upright, took a quiet seat, thumbing wire-rimmed
glasses above its incandescent brow. This happened in February
2024—and Sami Miranda’s pork pie brim will tell you. At first,
all ArtWalk eyes were holden to see his honey grin. “All hail
the Bard of Brightwood; his timbre was just upon me,” one
microphone erupted. “I can still feel sunlight of his dap, warm
my metal skin, faithful as testimony of fingerprints,” another
wept and said. And on that same day, in a mourning village
called the District, Sadness played drums for Grief well into
night, as condensation raced tears down the face of every window—until there came a time when Reuben’s smile stood up. And when it did, all The Brookland finally saw it—saw him: Naomi, Sister of Melanie; Brandon, Brother of Kenneth-Gilmore- Renegade; Everlasting Ethelbert-the Miller, WPFW, Cousin of Free Speech. All DC Table of Contents saw him—and every loudspeaker living will tell you. He broke the bread of laughter, tarried like a bookmark in our pages, and vanished back into a poem. ---
3/1/2024
Truth Thomas is a singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in the sacred DMV. An NAACP Image Award-winner, he is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Howard County, Maryland.
(Photo: Cherry Thomas)
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