from “The School of Clara Ward”
1 / Clara on the Walk of Fame *
Summer storm breaks upon the pavement. Rain
Shakes like tambourines. My name, a million feet pound.
A ton of sins — How Mother preached! on my dead brain.
Home shifting, clocks clanging, days tilting, I drowned
Many a time, then learned to keep. I’d steal from
A jealous God and watch my fingers skate across
Ivory keys. I’d step back, let other voices drum
And wail and pierce the depths of poor loneliness.
Every now and then, I took sick, took to my bed
And the Lord sent some angel to enfold me.
A cracked cup, I never claimed healing tea. Misled?
Who whipped up a storm? Not my still unblinking eye.
A slave to whom? Not my Lord. Not His mule.
But I know how a little crown can feel.
*Aretha Franklin’s mentor, Clara Ward spawned several schools of American popular music with innovations in singing, composing, and arranging from the ‘Thirties through the ‘Fifties. On the gospel choir circuit since she was a young child, she said she never had a vacation, but once – to the Holy Land, in her entire life, a brief 48 years.
* * * * *
2 / Marion at Oakley Memorial *
Now that I’m a genius, they never lets it rest.
My high birdcall like a owl that forgets
She’s a owl. My growl like I was Jacob
Wrastling with a angel or even worse, Job
With Satan. I struggle with evil and good.
Don’t everybody? Way before the Flood –
And since. In my life Mother Ward takes the cake!
Rest her soul. Tough as nails. But fake?
I hear somebody took my growl. In fact, a few.
As long as they for real. Mine is. What can I do?
Somebody took my owl. Not all mine, you know.
God give momma eleven, then took all but three.
My days is less than all the cents in this money.
My church is third in line. After family. And me.
* Marion Williams, a MacArthur fellow, was the soprano who gave the Famous Ward Singers their signature first hit, “Surely, God Is Able.” She was a Church Mother at the BM Oakley Memorial COGIC in Philadelphia under the pastorate of the late Mother Irene A. Oakley. In 2015 the church faced foreclosure; a successor pastor left under a cloud of fraud allegations.
* * * * *
3 / The School *
Church is not Jesus. The cure is in The Lord.
Call the Holy Word ambulance! Get on board!
We can stand here and churn up a whirlpool
Of gossip. We can sail the ship called Grateful.
Who brought us together, who pulled us asunder?
My soul looks back, my heart in wonder.
Who schooled a thousand daughters, but never
Birthed a child? Shall we cross the Jordan River
In silence? Somebody’s song is a mighty rope!
Throw out the life-line! Sing the first-aid called Hope.
Somebody’s moaning — the sin-sick soul?
Church is not Jesus. His cup is always full.
Pray the gates open and widen, not narrow.
March in, poor sister! We. All. Pilgrims of sorrow!
* Kitty Parham, Frances Steadman, Henrietta Waddy left the Famous Ward Singers and formed The Stars of Faith under the leadership of Marion Williams. Other significant Ward soloists were Viola Crowley, Esther Ford, Dorothy Holmes, Agnes Jackson, Mildred Means, Vermida Royster, and Madeline Thompson.