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The cover of the 1967 Verve album “Beach Samba,” by Astrud Gilberto (photo by Jerry Schatzberg)
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Questions for Astrud
Did you dream up the orange golden sun of Aruanda?
Seashells far from your mother, you would no longer need
to whisper, “Take Me to Aruanda.” She wouldn’t find you there.
Thick black eyeliner traced eyes. White diamond sand in thighs.
Iridescent pink fish in the stream, “Are you happy there now?”
Your perfect form imprinted in grain, Heaven waits over yonder.
Do you swing your hips in the dark? Moon lighting crescent
bones leaving sadness behind. Is it a sweet paradise in Aruanda?
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Jerrice J. Baptiste is a poet and author. She is published in several reputable journals and magazines, and has been nominated as Best of the Net by Blue Stem in 2022, and is a top ten finalist in a poetry competition for Plants & Poetry Journal in 2023. Her poetry and collaborative songwriting are on the Grammy award nominated album- Many Hands:. Family Music for Haiti. She has been facilitating poetry workshops for eighteen years. Jerrice has been the hostess of Women of Note on 98.1FM WKZE Radio in Red Hook, NY since 2006.
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Listen to the 1965 recording of Astrud Gilberto performing “[Take Me To] Aruanda” from the Verve album The Shadow of Your Smile [Universal Music Group]
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Ms. Gilberto died on June 5, 2023 at the age of 83
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