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
.
The Tribunal is holding hearings on the impact of sanctions, economic coercive measures, in 16 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
R.E.A.L. Youth Initiative develops revolutionary consciousness and community among current and formerly incarcerated youth towards abolition of prisons and the conditions that reproduce them.
New congressional legislation is needed to change marijuana laws.
An errant balloon from China sent the U.S. into a frenzy of fear and hatred. The president, congress, and corporate media all made sure that a harmless incident was viewed in the worst light…
The late John H. Bracey, Jr. argued that Black Studies should be wedded to African liberation, not to the corporate-bureaucratic structure of the university.
