“Backbeat means the church feel. . . . ”
—Howard Grimes

Feel the beat. The backbeat.
Feel the beat.  Stomp with the feet,
the stomping of the feet—
and the clapping of the hands—
the feet the beat,
the hands the ands.

Stomp with your feet. Clap with your hands.
Praise be to God / with the stomping of the feet.
The church said,     Amen /
with the clapping of the hands—
the feet the beat,
the hands the ands.

When they had no pianos,
do you think that they were poor,
with the feet the beat,
the hands the ands—
the stomping of the feet—
and the clapping of the hands?

Church recall.  The stomping of the feet.
Church respond with the clapping of the hands
    The feet the beat, and the . . . .

first published in Adagio Verse Quarterly