On A Mission: Selected Poems and a History of the Last Poets

by Abiodun Oyewole, Umar Bin Hassan

A collection of poems considers such topics as the plight of African-Americans, the temptation of drugs, the threat of incarceration, and monitoring by the FBI, accompanied by a history of the Last Poets

Genres: Poetry

188 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 1996

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly a book of poetry, but it is also a book of history of two of the seven men who called themselves The Last Poets. These two are the authors Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole.

They formed their group in New York City on May 19, 1968, at Mount Morris Park during a birthday celebration for Malcom X. The group had a purpose, a call to African Americans to revolutionize, to see the truth of themselves, to love themselves, and to have power.

The beginning of the book has several essays, including an introduction written by Kim Green. Each of the authors wrote a long essay about themselves and how they came to form the group. The rest of the book contains their poems, with an introduction to each poem about why they wrote it, or what situation or feelings formed it. I’ve never encountered this format in a book of poetry before.

Poetry itself is always hard to rate, does it speak to you? These poems are more non-fiction than most poetry. I read these poems printed on the page, but suspect hearing these out loud would be more powerful.

Book rating: 4.25

[Sye]

I will not rate this book because while I didn't enjoy reading a majority of the poems, I can see how impactful they would be when heard aloud.  I appreciate that the book got me thinking about Black political movements and activists, "the new guard vs. the old guard", and the interconnectivity of politics and art.