Original Poetry
Collectivist Action
1969
I was 15 years old
I remember
watching the news
every nite on a
black and white
television set
the massive bombing of North Viet Nam
Mark Clark and Fred Hampton murdered
by police in Chicago
our student walkout
at my high school
my father’s car
Repossessed. . .
the only thing
WONDERFUL
I remember
was hearing, for the first time,
Sly & the Family Stone sing:
“Don’t Call Me Nigger. . . Whitey!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘African Proverb Poem’ (concludes with the proverb)
He captured the caw
Of the crows mating song
Soared & glided
Like an eagle in the wind
She mimicked the mule
Kicking hard with the hind legs
Slid like a sidewinder
Slithering on sand
He sang like a songbird
Singing in summer
Cried like a crocodile
Approaching its prey
She hopped like a rabbit
Danced like a dolphin
Bopped like a bobcat
Hummed like a hummingbird
Quacked like a duck
Roared like a lion
Buzzed like a bee
‘Copying everybody else
One day
The monkey
Cut his own throat.’
I was 15 years old
I remember
watching the news
every nite on a
black and white
television set
the massive bombing of North Viet Nam
Mark Clark and Fred Hampton murdered
by police in Chicago
our student walkout
at my high school
my father’s car
Repossessed. . .
the only thing
WONDERFUL
I remember
was hearing, for the first time,
Sly & the Family Stone sing:
“Don’t Call Me Nigger. . . Whitey!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘African Proverb Poem’ (concludes with the proverb)
He captured the caw
Of the crows mating song
Soared & glided
Like an eagle in the wind
She mimicked the mule
Kicking hard with the hind legs
Slid like a sidewinder
Slithering on sand
He sang like a songbird
Singing in summer
Cried like a crocodile
Approaching its prey
She hopped like a rabbit
Danced like a dolphin
Bopped like a bobcat
Hummed like a hummingbird
Quacked like a duck
Roared like a lion
Buzzed like a bee
‘Copying everybody else
One day
The monkey
Cut his own throat.’
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