Some days I need to be baptized by the beat
Lost in jasmine scented clouds of ecstasy
I want to dance on tribal sands
With a Nubian man
With gifted hands
I want to be lifted a bit higher
Than my everyday norm
I want to feel cozy cared for and warm
I want sing while making magic on a grand piano
Under a crystal chandelier until my inhibitions disappear
I want to feed him grapes and make mistakes so we can mate
I want to love deeply, behave sweetly and have Maxwell on repeat see?
I want to dress in cultural splendor and have him surrender to my will
I want him to sax me slowly, truly know me and find freedom in my eyes
It can never be enough to simply hold me, I want him to mentally enfold me
It can be intense, I can help your dollars make sense
I want to be loved like a favorite song
On repeat all day long
I need the beat to be heart-strong
I am no broken guitar nor a cymbal to merely clang together
I am she the founder of Black Feather, the ultimate go-getter
So he must add to the equation to make me better
He must pray to a higher power and love to shower me with
Love and affection, grown women desire more than erections
We need a deeper connection the organic kind
I need you to make love to my mind
From: Uptown Déjà Vu
Summary
“Untitled (“Some days I need to be baptized by the beat”)” by Jimmie Ware is a poem centered on love and relationships, music, identity. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
A personal, first-person speaker combines recollection with direct emotional address.
Style and form
The poem is musically inflected, line-driven, expansive, first-person. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include love and relationships, music, identity, social justice. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “Untitled (“Some days I need to be baptized by the beat”)” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
Explore this poem
Source & rights
Source: Uptown Déjà Vu
Rights: Copyright controlled by the rights holder. Published here with permission.