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

Opportunity’s Autumn Burial
Bill Quigley
08 Oct 2008
🖨️ Print Article

Opportunity’s Autumn Burial

by  Kemet Mawakana

 

Click the flash player below to hear this work performed by the Seven Foot Poet

{mp3}poetry/104_7ft_autumn{/mp3}

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they fall prey to the wind

 

                   Accept their fate and simply give in?

 

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they have already left

 

                   Or remain beholden to branches that promise freedom

 

The week after next?

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they remember

 

                   Those before them that died in past Septembers?

 

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would the reminisce

 

                   On days of hanging onto hopes of false bliss?

 

 

So I leave you now with one thought left

 

          If leaves don’t try to fly

 

                   The fall brings certain death.

 

 

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

                             Copyright 1996.

 

Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . InfinityCrucifixion of My Soul.  The collective body of his works presented in www.blackagendareport.com and www.voxunion.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


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    "Woke 1" and Democratic Party Deceit
    19 Aug 2026
    The democrats’ backtracking on what they dismissively refer to as “wokeness” is the newest iteration of their political trickery as once again they give the appearance of supporting what they…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: “People's Power, No Dictator!” Walter Rodney, 1979
    19 Aug 2026
    “The Burnham dictatorship crept up upon Guyanese people like a thief in the night.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Johanna Fernández and her Unrelenting Advocacy for Mumia Abu Jamal
    19 Aug 2026
    The late Dr. Johanna Fernández left an awesome intellectual and activist legacy that includes her 2010 documentary film “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    White Supremacy and Climate Change: A Sinister Symbiosis
    19 Aug 2026
    The climate movement will never be effective as long as it refuses to confront white supremacy within its own organizations and as a belief system which is unconcerned about Black and brown death.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    They Wear The Masks
    19 Aug 2026
    "They Wear The Masks" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us