Julie G’s Reviews > The Poetry of Black America: Anthology of the 20th Century > Status Update

the children
they move
stand about
roam freely
come rushing,
their innocence
solemn
their grace

have you seen them have you
seen them
can you feel
the Revolution
--Angelo Lewis (1950- )

as things be/ come
let's destroy
then we can destroy
what we be/ come
let's build
what we become
when we dream
--Nikki Giovanni (1943- )

Christmas morning i
got up before the others and
ran
naked across the plank
floor into the front
room to see grandmama
sewing a new button on my last year
ragdoll.
--Carol Freeman (1941- )

the real people loves one another
the rest bees shaming, bees walkin
backwards under the sun
--Rob Penny (1941-2003)

the soul holds lost keys that know
what the hand took
and where
the ships
are going
--Joe Johnson (1940- )

The sky
a black woman's bosom
bursting blues,
brooding black
--Joe Johnson (1940- )

At one end of the line
there was God
& at the very other end
there is God.
In between
shine all the stars of all the spaces
illuminating everything
to the two tender points
that are your eyes
--Al Young (1939-2021)

For Poets

Stay beautiful
but dont stay down underground too long
Dont turn into a mole
or a worm
or a root
or a stone

Come on out into the sunlight
Breathe in trees
Knock out mountains
Commune with snakes
& be the very hero of birds

Don't forget to poke your head up
& blink
Think
Walk all around
Swim upstream

Don't forget to fly
--Al Young (1939-2021)

Vietnam #4

a cat said
on the corner
the other day
dig man
how come so many
of us
niggers
are dying over there
in that white
man's war
they say more of us
are dying
than them peckerwoods
& it just don't make sense
unless it's true
that the honkies
are trying to kill us out
with the same stone
they killing them other cats
with
you know, he said
two birds with one stone
--Clarence Major (1936- )

When I die. . . may they pick me apart and take the
useful parts, the sweet meat of my feelings. And leave
the bitter bullshit rotten white parts
alone.
--Amiri Baraka (1934-2014)