Reading Response 11/12

 “Lee Morgan”  a poem by David Henderson describes what happens at night at Club Baron. Henderson mentions in his poem these two jazz musicians. Lee Morgan was an American  bop trumpeter and Thelonious Sphere Monk was a jazz pianist and composer. Henderson  describes what happens in this club by using imagery and word choice. Club Baron is a historical jazz club in Harlem where people went to hear jazz musicians such as Lee Morgan and see Thelonious Sphere Monk play.  For instance, in the second stanza, he says, “fly deep into night towards the light/good smoke/sings the horn/metal glass under Capricorn sky” (lines 9-12). His reference to light creates an image for Jazz. Since, jazz music was sang or played at the night club, it brought light to the night. The light which was jazz shone on the people. Henderson creates a musical sound in this poem and his repetition of "fly by night in the first stanza of the poem emphasizes the importance of jazz musicians at Club Baron. Jazz music was central to the night. Another different poem Sun Goddess written by David Henderson describes a black woman who is still powerful despite the obstacles she faced. Henderson describes the black woman using adjectives like rawboned, black and tall(58). However, the author's description of her tall and wide shoulders was based on the fact that she worked on a cotton farm as a child. This poem is different from Lee Morgan and the other poems in the way it is structured. It does not follow the regular poem pattern of stanzas. It is written in a prose form like a story with paragraphs. According to the author, this black woman remembers her late husband and wished to lay beside him every night. She is a woman with  two children and no husband but she still stood tall and strong despite the struggle she faced as a single mother with two kids. To be a Sun Goddess is to be very highly respected by everyone. She had so much  power and strength. Perhaps, the Black woman was indeed a powerful black woman.