greatpoetry | Entries tagged with amiri baraka

wicked-sassy.livejournal.com

Rest in peace, poet Amiri Baraka (October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014).

A Poem for Speculative Hipsters

He had got, finally,

to the forest

of motives. There were no

owls, or hunters. No Connie Chatterleys

resting beautifully

on their backs, having casually

brought socialism

to England.

     Only ideas,

and their opposites

         Like,

     he was really

     nowhere.

myinsectfuneral.livejournal.com

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

radiohaiku.livejournal.com

That force is lost
which shaped me, spent
in its image, battered, an old brown thing
swept off the streets
where it sucked its
gentle living.
And what is it
to do, that is driven to an end
by words? The frailest gestures
grown like skirts around breathing.
We take
unholy risks to prove
we are what we cannot be. For instance,

I am not even crazy.

wicked-sassy.livejournal.com

Mods: if you'd rather me post each of these separately for tagging & whatnot, let me know and I will. My apologies for anything repeated in the archives.

Here are my ten favorite poems of all time, in no particular order. (A friend challenged me to post them.)

* ( Self-Portrait - Revan Schendler )

* ( Clenched Soul - Pablo Neruda )

* ( i like my body when it is with your - e. e. cummings )

* ( Antilamentation - Dorianne Laux )

* ( the song of mehitabel - Don Marquis )

* ( I'm In Love - Charles Bukowski )

* ( The Bistro Styx - Rita Dove )

* ( 3 parts from The Last Benjamin of Todela - Yehuda Amichai )

* ( Will They Cry When You're Gone, You Bet - Amiri Baraka/ LeRoi Jones )

* ( In Memory of M. B. - Anna Akhmatova )

angabel.livejournal.com

A Poem Some People Will Have to Understand

Dull unwashed windows of eyes
and buildings of industry. What
industry do I practice? A slick
colored boy, 12 miles from his
home. I practice no industry.
I am no longer a credit
to my race. I read a little,
scratch against silence slow spring
afternoons.
I thought, before, some years ago
that I'd come to the end of my life.
Watercolor ego. Without the preciseness
a violent man could propose.
But the wheel, and the wheels,
won't let us alone. All the fantasy
and justice, and dry charcoal winters
All the pitifully intelligent citizens
I've forced myself to love.

We have awaited the coming of a natural
phenomenon. Mystics and romantics, knowledgeable
workers
of the land.

But none has come.
(Repeat)
but none has come.

Will the machinegunners please step forward?

- Amiri Baraka

where-trees-go.livejournal.com

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and envelopes me
Each time I go out to walk the dog.
Or the broad edged silly music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus...

Things have come to that.

And now, each night I count the stars.
And each night I get the same number.
And when they will not come to be counted,
I count the holes they leave.

Nobody sings anymore.

And then last night I tiptoed up
To my daughter's room and heard her
Talking to someone, and when I opened
The door, there was no one there...
Only she on her knees, peeking into

Her own clasped hands

-Amiri Baraka

ex-asphyxia155.livejournal.com

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I Eat Poetry

Entries tagged with amiri baraka

Amiri Baraka 1934-2014

A Poem for Speculative Hipsters

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note -- Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

Snake Eyes, Leroi Jones

multiple poets

A Poem Some People Will Have to Understand

(no subject)

Amiri Baraka

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