Baldwin said that music was his salvation; that he wanted to write the way jazz and blues musicians sound; that he wished he could be as free as Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith and as triumphant as Aretha Franklin; that music, not American literature, was his true language.

my moods song.

“I’m as restless as a willow in a wind storm. as jumpy as a puppet on a string. I’d say that I had spring fever—but I know it isn’t spring.”

-Sarah Vaughan

the sweetest thing I’ve ever known—

was like a kiss on a collarbone.

soft caress of happiness.

the way you walk, your style of dress.

i wish i didn’t get so weak,

ooh, baby, just to hear you speak.

…it was the sweetest thing i’ve known.