Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Make Believe
Bill Quigley
01 Mar 2009
🖨️ Print Article

By Kemet Mawakana

The Seven Foot Poet reflects on what we think of as manhood, how "a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" and what we imagine it means to "man up."

Do click the link below to hear this original work performed by the Seven Foot Poet.

 

 Make Believe

Click the flash player below to listen to or the mic to download an mp3 copy of this BA Radio commentary.

No Market

African Manhood

Reduced Restricted Repressed Oppressed

Put On Shiny European Styled Suits

Resume Requests

Auction Blocks

Pick Thee

Please

To Eat Today

Costs

Stomping Own Seeds

No Way Not Never

Manhood Fatherhood Tragic

Cry

Tears Justified

Necessary

Until Act Action And Ax

Swing Swing Swing

So Giant Falls


And Everyone Lived Happily African Ever After.


By Kemet Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

Copyright 2009.


Kemet Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . Infinity and Crucifixion of My Soul. The collective body of his works presented in www.blackagendareport.com are in tribute to Listervelt Middleton, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and “For The People”. Currently, he is a facilitator at AYA Educational Institute (www.ayaed.com) in Atlanta, Georgia and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.com

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Minnesota 9 — now say their names: pastor, lawyer, journalists and resistance leaders
    04 Feb 2026
    "Minnesota 9 — now say their names: pastor, lawyer, journalists and resistance leaders" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Marisa Solomon’s Book, “The Elsewhere Is Black”
    04 Feb 2026
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Marisa Solomon. Solomon is Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The EPA’s Zero Sum Game Surfaces a Dialectical Paradox That Should Be Celebrated, Not Decried
    04 Feb 2026
    The debate over the EPA's new math misses the point. The agency hasn't changed its values, it has simply stopped pretending to account for communities it was never built to protect.
  • Isaac Saney
    Cuba Must Not Fall! Imperialism, Resistance and the Global Stakes of Defending the Cuban Revolution
    04 Feb 2026
    The survival of Cuba's socialist project remains one of the most critical holdouts against hemispheric domination, making its defense a global litmus test for sovereignty.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    On the Anniversary of the Declaration of a ‘Zone of Peace’, the U.S. Heightens its Murderous Assault on the Cuban People and Revolution
    04 Feb 2026
    Branding Cuba an "extraordinary threat" on the anniversary of a regional peace declaration, the U.S. has escalated an assault designed to destroy hemispheric solidarity and justify hybrid war.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us