PECAN PIE FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR--2026

 

                                            PECAN PIE FOR MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.--

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY, 2026

Part One: Invitation to the Party

We’re having Pecan Pie for your birthday,

Reverend King. We’ll be in the narthex

at Central Lutheran Church, Yakima.

Today is Monday, a baking day,

your sermons on the kitchen counter,

and Letter from Birmingham Jail.

I’m listening to Precious Lord

right now—Right now! Time is fluid,

and the pies, well—I was following

hearsay when I heard Pecan

was your favorite pie—they’re

out of the oven—two deep dish

large ones, butter and lard, toasted

pecans, honey and eggs, two smaller ones

for children. pie plates with smiling faces

—pies for kids during Sunday School--

like you say, Use time creatively--

and following up on your instructions

to Ben Branch, at the Lorraine Motel--

Play that song tonight at the meeting, Ben.

There’s more pie, than that, Dr. King.

Karen showed me how to bake Tassie’s--

bite-sized, and lots of them--

by the dozens. We’re going to lift

everybody up with your words--

you voice too—baked into those pies.

Thank God for your voice!

We’re lifting you, too, Reverend King,

we need you more than you need us,

I know, I know. I’m reaching towards

that long arc you helped us with,

we’re in trouble again, but before

I get there, I need some help from that song.

Stop me in my ramble. Who’s your favorite

to sing that song? Mahalia’s a first guess,

but Marion Williams? Aretha sang it

at 14—but you know what, I probably

learned it from Jim Reeves as a boy

in North Dakota. I played it

in the living room on trombone

for my Dad. I began living it then,

in 1955, and then with Elvis. None

of my family knew Thomas Dorsey.

Help me, Dr. King, to get to

where it’s hurting now. Aretha

sang it at your funeral. That’s

where I go first and always.

I can see I’m going in circles,

I want to talk about 1968—2026, too!--

how we suffer before we get real.

I still listen to Elvis. And this song

that cleans up my tears rolling out pies.

Jim Bodeen

13 January 2026