I've never read this work, but I found this via Google:
"The late civil rights leader and poet Tom Dent associated water with images of evil, such as "riversnake," and bad history such as "...stuffed black mammies chained to Royal St. praline shops..." in his poem "Secret Messages," a blues ballad to jazz immortal Danny Barker."
http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=0743293126&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true
I'm trying to understand the meaning of Tom Dent's poem "secret messages" (for Danny Barker). What is he trying to say? I'm thinking in the first stanza, the rain is washing away the past and "bad" history of blk mammies chained to praline shops, but past that, I'm just not getting it. Any help would be appreciated. thanks
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