Isn’t it amazing? Not all colored boys can sing You know why? Colored boys ain’t colored They just boys Yeah, they momma’s black And yes, they dark like that But that don’t mean all colored boys can sing Cause them boys ain’t colored They upward leaning Listen, singing ain’t everything Uh, well, in church it does mean something And yeah, lots of choir boys can really sing But that ain’t got nothing to do with them being called colored and things Even the three Hebrew boys didn’t have to sing Neither were they called colored and things Even though they faced a very wicked king Never once did Nebakenezzer ever demand That them boys sing Old men use to call my granddaddy colored boy To him it was more of the same old white noise They’d holler at him and his friends “Go on now colored boys, ya’ll sing” He wanted to say “Go on now, tell yo’ momma tuh sing” But no sooner said would a rope be swinging Isn’t it amazing? Not all colored boys can sing You know why? Colored boys ain’t colored They just boys upward leaning Copyright 2009 Emmett Wheatfall All rights reserved www.emmettwheatfall.com Audio Recording CD“I Speak”, Emmett Wheatfall, Peterson Entertainment, LLC, April 2010
This poem is a part of Soul Portrait Magazine’s “30 Days of Poetry” to celebrate National Poetry Month. If you’d like to participate, please submit a poem.
