This is for Gwendolyn who lived a life distilled
For Langston who knew what it felt like to have
a dream deferred
For Zora who knew their eyes were watching
To Leroi Jones u gave black more
meaning
Than u will ever know
To Donald Goines who wasn't afraid to
tell the true tales of street hoes
To iceberg slim grandfather of street
game Moses of hip-hop
TO Claude Mckay yardie man of be
bop
Who found his way Coming home to
Brooklyn even when your money was
tooken?
U spent and bent to write and ignite and
take this thing we call poetry to flight
U who I spent many a night
To the new comers who rush in by
might
To those who feel the fight
Who burn with desire to make simple
prose
To those
To those
Who know
To Sonia Sanchez and Fenton Johnson I
feel your essence in my every note
To Marcus and Move the results of
niggaz that vote
To make things simple I could go to my
neo-sister Jamaica Kincaid
On some nights my only refuge my only
aid
To Alice where I can stand the pain
The oasis the euphoria I feel
To women that makes sense of men like
Georgia Mcneal
TO Ishameel Reed my soul mate indeed
To KRS1, Common, Wordsworth, Mos
Def, Rakim, Bounty Killah , Buju
Banton and Talib Kweli
In these days of poetic existence we who
are so few and far in between
U all is all that I need…
To make this bitter life sweet
U all are my lifeline the pulse in my
heart beat…..
© RAW_MATERIYAL 2000