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
.
Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist, joins Garland Nixon to discuss Israel's aggression in West Asia and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
In this week’s segment, we hear about how a tornado impacted the Black community of St. Louis, which already suffered as a result of decades of destructive public policy. But first, we discuss…
Our guest is Nkosi Mandela. He is the tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and the grandson of Nelson Mandela. He joins us from Johannesburg to discuss his work in solidarity with Palestine…
Our guest is Christopher Gladney. He is president of the Northside Independent Neighborhood Association in St. Louis, Missouri. He joins us from St.
Popular resistance against the Trump administration in Los Angeles and other cities is a very positive development and one that Black people must embrace.
