Kurtis Lamkin is a poet from Philadelphia who composes and performs praise poems on the Kora, a beautiful 21-string West African harp/lute. He tours the United States performing at festivals, community centers, prisons and universities, and has several albums to his credit including Love Life, El Shabazz, and Queen of Carolina. In the past he has served as the Bourne Poetry Chair at Georgia Tech, and as Poet in Residence at The New School for Social Research.
This is My Heart (for Arianne)
My body is just a little wagon
I drag my heart around in
I park my little wagon
next to your little wagon
because my heart likes to be near your heart
What can I say?
This is my heart. This is my heart….
Whenever you show me
the pictures that you make
I get to see the world through your eyes
and when I see the world through
your beautiful eyes
I like the world
yes, this world
this phenomonal thing
this colorful thing
this wild and elegant -
See what I mean: This is my heart
This is my heart.