aka "The Seven-Foot Poet"
"FARE"
Our resident poet contemplates the "Fare" that Black folks are required to pay. When you read and hear this week's offering from Kemit Mawakana, you'll get his meaning.
To experience the written or audio versions of FARE, click the link below.
Poetry from Kemit Mawakana
aka "The Seven-Foot Poet"
To listen to FARE, click the flash player below
{mp3}poetry/072Fare{/mp3}
Fare
1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . . 14 . . . 15 . . . 16
A pariah!
Leprosy radiates my skin;
serving as a warning to natives and foreigners alike.
17 . . . 18 . . . 19 . . . 21 . . . 22 . . . 23
Death unto those that dare acknowledge my presence!
My invisibility clear to all who would dare look with a naked eye.
24 . . . 25 . . . 26 . . . 37 . . . 38 . . . 39
Hate, anger and vengeance swell up within,
breaking fences of common sense.
None of them - not one of them - None of them are bound by decency!
41 . . . 42 . . . 47 . . . 48 . . . 49
They hate the fact that me they only loathe and not despise.
They anxiously accelerate to save a business suit from my pursuit,
And the unspeakable acts that I perpetrate.
. . . 51.
Exhausted. I'm home, no longer mad.
Clearly it's not fair - that I was passed up by 51 taxicabs.
Copyright 1996
Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)
Kemit 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 weekly in BAR 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) and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
We must be able to acknowledge that Donald Trump has created a serious constitutional crisis while also recognizing that changing the U.S. relationship with Russia is groundbreaking and a necessity.
Can Palestinians get a little Humanitarian Intervention?
James Baldwin on white madness–and Black resistance.
The newly launched U.S./NATO Out of the Americas Network activates local grassroots organizations across the region in an effort to make this hemisphere a Zone of Peace.
"Gimme, gimme, gimme…" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
