Come Sunday

Sundays evoke a variety of meanings for different folk, but it is singularly the day for praise, celebration, and recognition of a force larger than humans. In the African-American community, Sunday is the day for worship, testifying, fellowship and prayer.  Duke Ellington’s sacred jazz piece “Come Sunday” from his instrumental jazz suite, Black, Brown and Beige, that premiered at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1943 weaves a hymnal quality offset by a majestic “use of dissonance” as the Duke examined the celestial nuances of praising the Lord through music. 

Decades later on a Sunday, aaduna celebrates the vitality of this day by launching its spring 2016 anniversary issue featuring a diverse array of poets, writers and visual artists.  And keeping in the realm of Ellington, Jacques Wakefield delivers his poem “Harlem Morning” evoking the same contextual feel Ellington {who lived in Harlem up on Sugar Hill} brought to his musical piece.

Here is the opening to Wakefield’s poem:

There’s something more in the sky-head

than apprehension of clouds,

/distant capricious weather

& the mourning papers haven’t been read yet

Harlem where I woke

this morning,

A world where it’s been so long

From Hughes &

Other celebrants

Kin to color as the ruse.

Finish reading Jacques Wakefield’s poem in the spring 2016 anniversary issue of aaduna that was just published.  

Go to www.aaduna.org, and click on Current Issue.  And then sit back and enjoy your Sunday.   

 *   *   *

aaduna - a timeless exploration into words and images - is a globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse online literary and visual arts journal established in 2010.  Visit us at www.aaduna.org where we put measurable actions to our words.



Help us build community!  Share with your friends,  "like" our Aaduna-Inc facebook page and follow us on twitter @ aadunaspeaks ! 

aaduna-Inc  Visit regularly for updates !

@aadunaspeaks