Poetry Jam "Fictional Point of View" "Mamma's Song" A nod to "Porgy &Bess"

Summertime by Porgy & Bess Cast

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

The following is a challenge for "Poetry Jam"-  Fictional Point of View.  My POV (character) is the infant being held in her Mamma's arms.

If you have never listened to this song, do yourself a favor and click on the above you tube video.   If you like it, try and find the movie Porgy & Bess or listen to the entire Broadway Cast Recording.  HERE is the newest Broadway Cast Recording with Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and David Alan Grier.

If you are interested in a really good Study Guide for "The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess" Click HERE

My photo below is "Rainbow Row" originally named "Cabbage Row" as it was a place that had sunk to a slum and used by negroes as a vending place of vegetables in the 1920's.  This is the location that DuBose Heyward based his novel "Porgy".  "Catfish Row" is the novel's fictitious location in Charleston, South Carolina.  (It is NO longer a slum - it is very pricey real estate and a popular tourist attraction.)

Mamma's Song

Promises softly sung
upon summertime's breeze
were broken
as Misfortune raged.

Murder, love, betrayal, rich,
old, young, poor, a melting pot.
She don't play favorites.

For once all was equal
South an' North of Broad
for those who dallied
beyond the shore,

the day my Daddy, "rich"
and Mamma, good lookin'
swept under with the Sea Gull.

Decayed, battered,
Catfish Row may have been,
but the arms that held
orphaned me,
were mighty strong in Hope.

Pride of Charleston's
poor blacks workin' hard
1920's immortalized,
an American opera, no less.

Today I walk by
colorful archways
of East Bay, hear
Mamma's voice,
Daddy's laughter
upon the wind,

whisper back,
"I spread my wings,
Mamma, took to the sky,
achieved your dream
of a better life."

by Margaret Bednar, April 19, 2013

I also linked this with Imaginary Garden with Real Toad's "Out of Standard: Climate Free Friday"  The tough challenge of using the word "melt" without referring to heat, cold, fire or ice.  I squeezed it in and think it might read better, perhaps, without the "melted" line.  ;P