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

Mirror, Mirror
Kemet Mawakana
22 Apr 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wide

by 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 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(at)gmail.com.
 
 
 
 

Mirror Mirror

the audio for this poem is temporarily unavailable/

We know you knew about Inner City Blues.

We know you knew about Thug Life.

And wanted to save the children.

And would answer if your homie calls.

Everybody loved you after the dance giving sexual healing.

You got around asking what’s your phone number and how do you want it?

A breach birth because you were born on the East Coast headed for Hollywood.

A breach birth because you were born on the East Coast headed for Hollywood.

On your label hot acts like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

On your label hot acts like Snoop Doggy Dogg and the Dogg Pound.

Mercy mercy me nobody told them whats going on like you.

I ain’t mad at cha because you gotta keep your head up.

Some said you were so negative some said so positive.

Some said you were so negative some said so positive.

My favorite lyric, “ ” yeah that one.

My favorite lyric, “ ” yeah that one.

It was hectic during your lifetime the war the riots and all.

It was hectic during your lifetime the war the riots and all.

You were a troubled man.

You saw death around the corner.

So sad you life ended so young.

So sad you life ended so young.

It makes me wanna holla.

It makes me feel trapped against all odds.

People still love your music.

People still love your music.

Your style was complex in its simplicity.

Your style was complex in its simplicity.

We miss you 2Pac we miss you Tupac Shakur.

We miss you Marvin we miss you Marvin Gaye.

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

Copyright 1998.

 

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 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.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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
    29 May 2024
    Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Palestinian poet Samih al-Qasim, is as powerful now as it was fifty years ago.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Kenya’s President Ruto Defies His Own Country’s Constitution and High Court to Invade Haiti
    29 May 2024
    I spoke to William Sakawa, a producer and reporter with the Nairobi-based media outlet African Stream, about Kenyan President William Ruto’s agreement to invade Haiti for the US.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Hearing! Hearing! Hearing!
    29 May 2024
    "Hearing! Hearing! Hearing!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill V. Mullen’s Book, “The Black Antifascist Tradition”
    29 May 2024
    This week’s featured authors are Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill V. Mullen. Their book is The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back From Anti-Lynching to Abolition.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    If You Want to See White “Supremacy” at Work, Don’t go to a Trump Rally, Observe the Democrats’ Approach to Climate Change
    29 May 2024
    Despite the undeserved loyalty of Black people to the Democratic Party, lawmakers continue to push policy that ignores concerns about climate change and environmental damage in their communities.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us