First, erase your mane, unravel your years, destroy your surroundings, uproot what you seem, and who remains standing?Then, rewrite...

my ole man took me to the fulton fish market we walk around the guts and the scalesmy ole man show mw the dead fish, eyes like throat...

1 when i stand around among poets i am embarrassed mostly, their long white beards, the great bulge in their pantstheir certainties i...

In black core of night, it explodes Silver thunder, rolling back my brain, Bursting copper screens, memory worlds Deep in star-fed...

See that lady Dressed so fine? She ain’t got boogie-woogie On her mind –But if she was to listen I bet she’d hear, Way up in the...

When she sits at the kitchen table while she talks her hands seem to balance in the air faithful at the level of her words; she is...

Who’s that dark woman Sittin’ next to the preacher Eyeing his feet? Lord, look at her. Red hat. Flowers. Perfume you can smell ...

Freely in hidden fire my heart burned. Eloquent with silent flames my heart burned.In my heart no desire for her no memory of her – ...

Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love. And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with...

So long, So far away Is Africa. Not even memories alive Save those that history books create, Save those that songs Beat back into...

The night is beautiful, So the faces of my people.The stars are beautiful, So the eyes of my people. Beautiful also, is the sun. ...

Baby Boy is a veteran his bad leg, his paunch are scars. He remembered when South Baltimore was hell and risk for blacks at night; he...

Sweet beats of jazz impaled on slivers of wind Kansas Black Morning/ First Horn Eyes/ Historical sound pictures on New Bird wings ...

And the orator said, Speak to us of Freedom, And he answered; At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself...

Landlord, landlord, My roof has sprung a leak. Don’t you ‘member I told you about it Way last week?Landlord, landlord, These steps is...

Chick Webb and Billy Strayhorn moved inside our heads with sound. They danced with shoes that hit around invisible points where rhythm...

May the wind blow sweetness, the rivers flow sweetness, the herbs grow sweetness, for the Man of Truth! Sweet be the night, sweet the...

And the woman spoke, saying, Tell us of Pain. And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even...

Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala Night and the Spirit of Life calling mamela And a voice with the fear of a child answers mamela. Ubu khosi...

How did it feel, Mary, Womb heavy with Christ Child, Tasting the dust of uncertain journey? Were you afraid? When, winding the...