For Michael S. Harper
Billie Holiday's burned voice
had as many shadows as lights,
a mournful candelabra against a sleek piano,
the gardenia her signature under that ruined face.
(Now you're cooking, drummer to bass,
These lines speak to the tragic life of legendary jazz singer  Billie Holiday. 
 
 Holiday had been “burned” in many ways, but her most famous song,  “Strange Fruit,”  speaks directly to the burning of Blacks in America. 
 
 The second line connects directly with Holiday’s life prior to fame. The shadows the poem speaks to are those of poverty, prostitution, and drugs, all of which came before she saw the light of success. 
 The reference to “lights” may hint at the effect of the big city on Holiday. Born in Baltimore, she moved to NYC looking for a better life. What she found in Harlem led her down the road to drugs and prostitution. 
 
 Due to her addictions and bad reputation, she was barred from performing in places that served alcohol and was ultimately restricted to Harlem, which, like Chinatown, was a place where stuff like this was swept under the rug or considered OK. 
 Harlem, the Apollo theater–famous Black performing venue: 
 
 Chinatown: 

Canary