i live in music

ntozake shange


i live in music
is this where you live? 

i live here in music 

i live on c# street 

my friend lives on b-flat avenue 

do you live here in music 

sound 

falls round me like rain on other folks 

saxophones wet my face 

cold as winter in st. louis 

hot like peppers i rub on my lips 

thinkin they waz lilies
i got 15 trumpets where other women got hips 

& a upright bass for both sides of my heart 

i walk round in a piano like somebody 

else be walkin on the earth
i live in music 

live in it 

wash in it 

i cd even smell it 

wear sound on my fingers 

sound falls so fulla music 

ya cd make a river where yr arm is &
hold yrself 

hold yrself in a music

Shange, Ntozake and Romare Bearden. I Live in Music. New York: 
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1994.